



&Uf SSUkHS, 




UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 





SERMONS 



THE APOSTLES' CREED: 



PREACHED in the AUTUMN or 1863, 



AT THE 



EPISCOPAL JEWS' CHAPEL 



OF THE 



Xante* 3otirt% fat IfetavaatioxQ €1$xwtxmity moxtpt t\t grims. 



REV. ISAAC BROCK, B.A, 



MINISTER Of THE CHAPEL, 



7 



Stand fast in the faith." — 1 Cor. xvi. 13, 

C<< 1870 A^y 



LONDON: 

WILLIAM MACINTOSH, 

24, PATERNOSTER ROW. 



1864. 



3> 



TO THE CONGREGATION 

OF 

BELIEVING JEWS AND GENTILES, 

CONNECTED WITH THE 

EPISCOPAL JEWS' CHAPEL 

IN PALESTINE PLACE, 

%Jgtzz Sizxmtsn% f 

PUBLISHED AT THEIE REQUEST, 
ABE RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 
BY THEIR AFFECTIONATE FRIEND AND PASTOR; 

"WITH THE EARNEST PRAYER, 
' THAT IN THESE DANGEROUS DAYS THEY MAY, 
BY THE TEACHING OF GOD'S HOLY SPIRIT, 
BE ROOTED AND BUILT UP IN CHRIST, AND STABLISHED IN THE FAITH, 

March 17, 1864, * 



CONTENTS. 



SERMON. PAGE. 

I. Introductory. — Romans x. 10 1 

II. Almighty God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth. — Gen. i. 1 12 

III. The Fatherhood of God.— 1 Cor. viii. 6 ; John xx. 17 ... 23 

IV. The Titles of the Redeemer.— 1 Cor. xii. 3 32 

V. Christ's Incarnation. — John i. 14 43 

VI. Christ's Death.— 1 Cor. xv. 3 . . 55 

VII. Christ's Resurrection. — Acts x. 40, 41 68 

VIII. Christ's Exaltation.— 1 Peter iii. 22 80 

IX. Christ's Return to Judgment. — 2 Tim. iv. 1 ^91 

X. The Holy Ghost.— John xiv. 16, 17 . 101 

XI. The Holy Catholic Church.— Eph. i. 22, 23 112 

XII. The Communion of Saints and the Forgiveness of Sins. — 1 Cor. 

x. 17 ; Acts x. 43 123 

XIII. The Resurrection of the Body unto Life Everlasting. — John 

v. 28, 29 7 132 



SERMONS 

ON 

THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



SERMON I. 



INTRODUCTORY. 

" For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness ; and with the 
mouth confession is made unto salvation." — Romans x, 10. 

I commence this evening a series of sermons on the Apostles' 
Creed — the Creed of our Baptism — the Creed we recite in all 
our public services in the sanctuary — the Creed, therefore, 
whose words have been familiar to us from our earliest 
childhood. 

Some may perhaps deem such a series unnecessary, supposing 
that they fully understand words so often on their lips; and 
yet, my brethren, it is not at all impossible, or improbable, that 
if we only inquired more diligently into the truths conveyed by 
the articles of our Creed, we should find much to be learned 
from them, which had hitherto escaped our notice, and perhaps 
some difficulties to be explained which had never troubled us, 
because we had been resting contented with a superficial 
knowledge of its Articles of our belief. 

The Eighth Article of the Church of England, on the 
subject of the Three Creeds, says, " The Three Creeds, Nicene 
Creed, Athanasius's, and that which is commonly called the 
Apostles' Creed, ought thoroughly to be received and be- 

B 



2 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



lieved : for they may be proved by most certain warrants of 
holy Scripture." 

The series of sermons I have commenced, will, I trust, bring 
out fully these " most certain warrants of holy Scripture," on 
which the Apostles' Creed rests, and will also, I hope, shew 
the practical influence which a belief in the different Articles 
of our Creed should have upon our life and conduct. The 
subject I have chosen is one which will serve to give us 
a connected view of Christian doctrine, if not in its fulness, 
at least in its grand outlines. I earnestly pray^ that through 
the teaching of God's Holy Spirit, its consideration may prove 
profitable to us all, so that with a more intelligent and lively 
faith, we may with the heart believe unto righteousness, and 
with the mouth make confession unto salvation. 

My sermon this evening must be chiefly of an introductory 
character. In entering on a subject of this kind, there are 
several preliminary matters demanding our attention. 

I. And first, as to the name, the Apostles' Creed. — Why 
is it so called? Certainly not because it was written by the 
Apostles. It would not be necessary for me to dwell on this 
point, had it not been of late very earnestly maintained in some 
quarters, that the Apostles' Creed is so called because it was 
actually written by the Apostles. It has been called " The 
formal symbol which the Apostles adopted and bequeathed to 
the Church." Such a notion, together with the pretty story 
got up at the end of the fourth century, about each Apostle 
contributing his own Article to the Creed, have no foundation 
whatever in fact. A few considerations will suffice to prove this. 

No precise form of words was left by the Apostles as the 
Christian Creed. Had such a formula been published by 
them, we should surely expect to find some notice of it in the 
canonical Scriptures of the New Testament. But for such a 
notice we shall search in vain. Cue or two passages indeed 
have been adduced as containing such a notice ; one of these is 
1 Cor. xv. 3, 4 : "I delivered unto you first of all that which 
I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to 
the Scriptures ; and that He was buried, and that He rose 
again the third day according to the Scriptures." It has been 



INTRODUCTORY. 



3 



maintained by some, that the Apostle is here quoting the Creed. 
Compare this passage, however, with one just preceding it — 
chap. xi. 23 : " For I have received of the Lord that which 
also I delivered nnto you." The expressions in the two verses 
are all but identical ; and surely, therefore, the obvious mode of 
interpreting the passage in the fifteenth is by that in the 
eleventh chapter, where there is evidently no quotation from 
the Creed. St. Paul, in the fifteenth chapter, was delivering 
what he had received of the Lord ; and if anything further is 
wanting to shew that the Apostle did not receive his faith 
from the Creed, we have it in his own words, in Gal. i. 11, 
12: " But I certify you, brethren, that the Gospel which was 
preached of me is not after man. For I neither received 
it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of 
Jesus Christ." So much, then, for this alleged quotation from 
the Creed. 

The other passage is in 2 Tim. i. 13 : " Hold fast the form of 
sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love 
which is in Christ Jesus." On this passage one who has joined 
the Church of Rome says, " The Creed is delineated and 
recognized in Scripture itself, where it is called ' the outline of 
sound words.'" Now the construction of the words of this 
text, in the original, completely overthrows this interpretation. 
For the Apostle does not say that Timothy had heard from 
him " an outline of sound w T ords," but that he had heard from 
him sound words, of which he was to hold fast the outline, i.e., 
the great characteristic features. The word <e which," refers to 
the " sound xoords" so that the meaning of the passage would 
be more accurately conveyed by translating it thus : ie Hold 
fast the form (or outline) of those sound words, which thou 
hast heard of me." 

I repeat, then, we shall search the Scriptures in vain for any, 
even the slightest intimation that the Apostles drew up a Creed 
for the use of the Church. Had they done so, if nowhere else, 
certainly in the Acts of the Apostles we should have found 
some notice of it. 

But this silence of Scripture respecting the existence of any 
precise form of words drawn up by the Apostles to be the Creed 

b 2 



4 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



of the Christian Churchy is confirmed by the variety of Creeds^ 
(differing in form though not in substance,) which we have 
in the ecclesiastical writings of the first three centuries. The 
earliest extant Creed is of that Irenseus, who flourished in the 
middle of the second century. As it is the earliest extant Creed, 
it will be interesting for you to hear it. It is as follows : — 

" The Church, though scattered all over the world from one 
end of the earth to the other, received from the Apostles and 
their disciples the belief in one God, the Father Almighty, who 
made the heaven, and the earth, and the seas, and all things 
that are in them ; and in one Jesus Christ, the Son of God, 
who was incarnate for our salvation ; and in the Holy Spirit, 
who preached by the prophets the dispensations, and the 
advents, and the birth by a virgin, and the passion, and the 
resurrection from the dead, and the bodily ascension into 
heaven of the beloved Jesus Christ our Lord, and His advent 
from heaven in the glory of the Father to restore all things, 
and to raise all flesh of mankind ; that to Jesus Christ our Lord 
and God and Saviour and King, according to the good pleasure 
of the invisible Father, every knee should bow of things in 
heaven and things in earth, and things under the earth, and 
that every tongue should confess to Him ; and that He may 
execute just judgment upon all ; that He may send the spirits 
of wickedness, and transgressing and apostate angels, and all 
impious, and wicked, and lawless, and blasphemous men into 
everlasting fire ; and to the just and holy, and those that have 
kept His commandments^ and remained stedfast in His love, 
some from the beginning, others after repentance, having 
given life, may confer on them immortality, and put them in 
possession of eternal glory." * 

The next forms of Creed which have been preserved to us, 
are to be found in the writings of Tertullian, who flourished at 
the close of the second century. He gives us the Creed of the 
Christian Church in three different forms of words. 

In the third century we have the same variety in the forms 
of Creeds as in the second century. Three only have been 

* Quoted in Dr. Goode's " Divine Rule of Faith and Practice." 



INTRODUCTORY. 



preserved to us, differing considerably in words one from the 
other, and from the forms given by Ireneeus and Tertullian. 
One of these is found in a work attributed to Origen, who 
flourished in the middle of the third century — a second in the 
writings of Gregory, Bishop of New Csesarea in Pontus, 
who lived about the same time — and a third belongs to the 
very end of the third, if not to the beginning of the fourth 
century, the Creed of Lucian the Martyr, which is to be found 
in the works of Athanasius and in the Ecclesiastical History of 
Socrates. 

These Creeds, (that of Irenaeus and those of Tertullian in the 
second century, and those of Origen, Gregory of New Csesarea, 
and Lucian the Martyr in the third century,) are pronounced by 
one, who is competent from his knowledge of the Christian 
fathers to speak with authority on this subject, the only Creeds 
that remain of the period anterior to the Council of Nice. 

From this examination of the early Creeds, it follows beyond 
a question that there was no precise form of ivords left by the 
Apostles as the Christian Creed. Had there been such, there 
can be no doubt that it would have been religiously preserved 
by the Church, and recognised when a Christian teacher had 
occasion to deliver a formal and succinct account of the chief 
Articles of the Christian faith. But for the first three centuries 
and more, there is not the slightest indication given us, that the 
Apostles left such a form. Each person who has occasion to 
give a summary of the chief articles of the Christian faith, gives 
it in different words, and if more than once_, does not always 
give the same form. 

All this is further confirmed by the silence of the Nicene 
Council on this matter. Had such a form drawn up by the 
Apostles existed, then at least it would have been recognised. 
There were then no difficulties in the way to prevent its being 
openly brought forward, if there had been such a formula ; for 
persecution had ceased, and there could be no reason for con- 
cealing it, especially when the Council was about to promulgate 
a Creed intended for the same purpose as the Apostles' Creed is 
supposed to have answered. The rise of heresies might have 
rendered some addition desirable, but there would at least 



6 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



have been some respectful recognition of the formula left by 
the Apostles, had there been one. 

The silence, then, of Scripture — the silence of all ecclesias- 
tical writers for upwards of three centuries — the variety of the 
forms of the early Creeds — and finally, the silence of the Nicene 
Council — are more than sufficient to show that the Apostles 5 
Creed is not so called, because it was written by the Apostles. 

Though, however, it was not drawn up by the Apostles 
themselves, yet it may well be called Apostolic, because it 
contains the doctrines taught by the Apostles, and because, as 
the Creed of Irenseus, and other early Creeds prove, it is in 
substance the same as was used in the Church from the times 
of the Apostles themselves. As we come to compare it article 
by article with the writings of the Apostles, we shall see that 
it is indeed an Apostolic Creed. 

This, however, though a sufficient reason why we may call 
the Creed of our baptism the Apostles' Creed, does not 
account for the fact, that it alone of all the early Creeds has 
come to be so designated. How is this ? The Nicene Creed, 
the Creeds of Irenaeus and others, contain Apostolic doctrine, 
and yet none of them ever came to be called " the Apostles' 
Creed." How are we to account for this ? How are we to 
explain the fact that the Creed before us alone came to be so 
designated ? 

II. In order to answer this question, we must glance in the 
next place for a few moments at the history of the Apostles' 
Creed. It seems, as far as we can trace its history, to have 
been the Creed in use in the ancient Roman Church. It 
appears gradually to have attained its present form ; two at 
least of its articles not being inserted in it till the end of the 
fourth century — the articles respecting the descent of Christ 
into hell, and the communion of saints. It is not till quite the 
close of the fourth century, that we hear this Creed of the 
ancient Eoman Church designated the Apostles' Creed. About 
that period this name is given by some writers of note, to this 
summary of the faith used in the early Roman Church, bat it 
was only given then, as a Roman Catholic historian informs us, 
in the Roman Church itself. By degrees— in consequence, I 



INTRODUCTORY. 



7 



presume, of the pre-eminence of the Eoman over other Churches 
— it got to be commonly so called. In the first instance, 
then, the appellation — Apostles' Creed — was appropriated to 
the ancient Roman Creed, by some writers of repute in the 
Roman Church, at the close of the fourth century. This 
appropriation was not long in being confirmed, owing to the 
fact I have alluded to ; and owing also to the spirit in which the 
Church of Rome has acted from a very early period of her 
history. She has ever been attempting to obtain currency for 
all her rites and usages and doctrines, by calling them 
apostolical. While, however, we quarrel with the modern 
Roman Church for calling her traditions apostolical — traditions 
which make void the plain teaching of the Apostles — we will 
not quarrel with the early Roman Church for calling her 
ancient Creed " the Apostles 9 Creed," inasmuch as it contains 
what may be proved by most certain warrants of holy Scrip- 
ture to be Apostolic doctrine. 

Well would it have been if the modern Roman Church 
had adhered to her early Creed. This, alas ! she has not done. 
Three centuries ago she promulgated a new Creed, the 
articles of which, instead of being in accordance with Apostolic 
teaching, can each one be proved to be entirely contrary to 
the spirit, and often to the express words of Apostolic 
teaching. By that new Creed, Rome has departed from the 
Apostolic faith which in her early days she held. She has 
ceased, by the promulgation of that Creed, to be Apostolic, she 
has become apostate. 

III. A third preliminary question demands our attention 
for a moment or two. When was this Creed first introduced 
into the public liturgies of the Church ? For some centuries 
this and other Creeds were only used at baptism. Peter Fullo, 
Bishop of Antioch in the year 471, ordered the Creed to be 
repeated in the Churches under his jurisdiction in every public 
religious service. In the year 511, Timotheus, Bishop of 
Constantinople, brought the custom into use in the Churches 
in his diocese. From that time, the custom became general in 
the Eastern Churches. From the Oriental Churches the custom 
was brought into the Western Churches, and first about the 



8 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



close of the sixth century into those of Spain, Gaul, and Britain ; 
and from them, later still, the custom of reciting the Creed was 
introduced into the public service of the Roman Church. 

IV. Next, as regards the place assigned to the Apostles' 
Creed in our English Liturgy. I will content myself with reading 
the remarks on this subject of Wheatley : " The place of it (the 
Apostles' Creed) in our Liturgy, may be considered both with 
respect to what goes before, and what comes after it. That 
which goes before it, are the lessons taken out of the Word of 
God, for faith cometh by hearing ; and therefore, when we haye 
heard God's Word, it is fit we should profess our belief of it, 
thereby setting our seals (as it were) to the truth of God, 
especially to such articles as the chapters now read to us have 
confirmed. What follows the Creed are the prayers which are 
grounded upon it, for we cannot call on Him in whom we have 
not believed. And therefore, since we pray to God the Father 
in the name of the Son, by the assistance of the Holy Ghost, 
for remission of sins, and a joyful resurrection ; we first declare 
that we believe in God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and 
that there is remission here, and a resurrection to life hereafter, 
for all true members of the Catholic Church ; and then we may 
be said to pray in faith." 

V. A word only as to the position in which the Creed is to 
be said. The rubric contains this direction : " Then shall be 
sung or said the Apostles' Creed by the Minister and the 
people, standing y" thus, as Wheatley says, we signify our resolu- 
tion to stand up stoutly in defence of our faith. As to the old 
customs of turning to the East, and bowing at the blessed name 
of Jesus in the Creed, all I have to say is, let not these things 
be done, if they are done, superstitiously ; and let not those who, 
reverencing old customs, practise them, condemn those who do 
not practise them. Let every man be fully persuaded in his 
own mind ; and let us ever remember, that religion does not 
consist in the observance or non-observance of such trifles 
as these. 

VI. And now a word as to the origin of Creeds generally, 
and therefore of the Apostles' Creed amongst the number. It 
seems to be generally admitted that the probable origin of 



INTRODUCTORY. 



9 



Creeds is to be traced to trie form or confession of faith which 
was propounded to the catechumens previous to their baptism. 
In the Scriptures, such forms appear to have been very brief. 
Our Lord commanded that men should be baptized in the name 
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; and 
perhaps a confession in some such simple form as, " I believe 
in the Father, and in the Son, and in the Holy Ghost," was 
all that was at first required. The command of our Lord, 
" Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the 
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," 
(Matt, xxviii. 19,) may be regarded, then, as the germ of every 
ancient Creed. " Who, can be ignorant," says Augustine, 
referring to these words, " that it is not Christ's baptism, if the 
words of the Gospel, in which the Creed is contained, have been 
wanting." 

VII. And this, my brethren, leads me to one further pre- 
liminary matter, with which I must conclude. What is the 
fundamental doctrine embodied, though not expressed in precise 
words, in the Apostles'' Creed ?" The origin, the germ from 
which that Creed, in common with other ancient Creeds grew, 
points at once to the answer ; that fundamental doctrine is the 
doctrine of the Trinity. This fundamental doctrine of the 
Creed is the fundamental doctrine, too ; of the entire Bible. 
The Scriptures are the revelation of a Triune Jehovah : 
" Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord." There 
is the unity of God proclaimed — the grand truth to which 
the chosen nation were to bear witness, amid surrounding 
Polytheism. But that unity of Jehovah, though a perfect, is 
not an absolute unity. Dr. Mensor, a converted Jewish rabbi, 
has very ably and conclusively shown that the doctrine of the 
absolute unity is a modern and Mohammedan doctrine.* 

In that very text, " Hear, 0 Israel, the Lord our God is one 
Lord," is wrapped up the doctrine of the Trinity in unity. 
Dr. Mensor observes, that the word used for one, " One Lord," 
is derived from a word which signifies to unite ; now what is 
united, though it may be a perfect one, cannot be an absolute 

* " An Essay on the Doctrine of the Trinity." By Dr. M. Mensor. 
J. C. Ward, Birkenhead. 



10 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



one. Dr. Mensor further shows, that the word used for one 
in that text, is never used to signify an absolute one, (for this 
word another term is employed,) it is used to signify a unity, 
formed from the perfect union in one of two or more. There 
are several passages, however, in which the three persons in 
the Divine unity are expressly mentioned. Many such are 
examined with great care in Dr. Mensor's Essay on the 
Trinity, to which I have referred. I will only mention one. 
It is one of the plainest. You will find it in Isaiah xlviii. 16. 
First, who is the speaker of these words ? Look at ver. 12, 13 : 
i( Hearken unto Me, O Jacob and Israel, My called ; I am He ; 

1 am the first, I also am the last. Mine hand also hath laid the 
foundation of the earth, and My right hand hath spanned the 
heavens : when I call unto them, they stand up together." 
The speaker, therefore, is a Divine person. And now read I 
the word which this Divine person speaks : ee Come ye near 
unto Me, hear ye this ; I have not spoken in secret from the 
beginning ; from the time that it was, there am I : and now the 
Lord God, and His Spirit, hath sent Me." (Yer. 16.) Here, 
then, we have three Divine persons — two sending and one 
sent. The two sending, the Lord God, even the Father, and 
His Spirit ; the one sent, He, who throughout the Old and 
New Testament Scriptures is described as the Angel of the 
Covenant, the sent-one of Jehovah, even the Messiah, the Son 
of the Father. 

In the New Testament, where the great plan of salvation is 
fully unfolded — a salvation in which the three Divine persons 
are engaged, see 1 Peter i. % — this fundamental doctrine of the 
Trinity is more fully revealed. The baptismal formula in 
Matt, xxviii. 19, and the apostolical form of benediction in 

2 Cor. xiii. 14, establish at once the equality of the three 
persons in the Godhead. 

On the other hand, the New Testament is as clear as the Old, 
on the great truth of the unity of God. St. Paul, in opposi- 
tion to the Polytheism of the heathen world, says, u We know 
that an idol is nothing in the world, and that there is none 
other God but one." And amongst the points in which all 
Christians were agreed, St. Paul mentions this : " One God and 



INTRODUCTORY. 



11 



Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all." 
I do not now advance proofs of the divinity of Christ and of the 
Holy Ghost ; these will come as we go through the articles of 
the Creed. I merely wished to call your attention to what is the 
fundamental doctrine embodied in the Apostles' Creed — the 
doctrine of the Trinity of Persons in the unity of God — the 
fundamental doctrine alike of the Old and New Testament 
Scriptures. 

The way is now prepared for us to enter upon the considera- 
tion of the separate Articles of the Creed. This I purpose doing 
on Sunday evening next, if the Lord will. 

For the present I will conclude, with a remark of a practical 
character. The text impresses on us the duty and the privilege 
of making a verbal confession of our faith. " "With the heart 
man believeth unto righteousness ; and with the mouth con- 
fession is made unto salvation." Let us be very thankful, that the 
Church of England puts into our mouths an orthodox confession 
of faith, a truly apostolic Creed. Let us feel it to be our duty 
and our privilege, to join audibly in the confession of our faith 
in the Creed. But, brethren, let us ever remember, it is not 
enough for us to do this ; you must not separate the second 
part of my text from the first. is With the heart man believeth 
unto righteousness and then, where faith is in the heart, the 
blessing promised to the open confession of that faith will fol- 
low : " with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." 

" With the heart man believeth unto righteousness." Let 
us earnestly seek the gift of faith from God ; so that with the 
heart we may believe in the Father who is our Creator, in the 
Son who is our Saviour, and in the Holy Ghost who is our 
Sanctifier ; and then the open acknowledgment of our belief 
will be felt to be both a duty and a privilege. 



SERMON II. 



ALMIGHTY GOD, THE MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH. 
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." — Gen. I. 1. 

Having disposed of the preliminary matters in connexion with 
the Apostles' Creed, which occupied our attention last Sunday 
evening, we are free now to enter on the consideration of 
the Creed itself ; the first article of which runs as follows — 
"I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and 
earth" 

This article we may resolve into two distinct parts. 

First, we have here a confession " of our faith in God, in 
God as Almighty, and in this Almighty God as the Maker of 
heaven and earth. 

Secondly, we have here a confession of our faith in God the 
Father, the first person of the ever blessed Trinity, the Father of 
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father, though in a wholly different 
sense, of angels and men. 

This evening I shall invite you to consider the first part 
only of this article, reserving for our consideration on Sunday 
evening next, if the Lord will, the large and deeply interesting 
subject of the Fatherhood of God. 

The part of the article of our Creed which we are now going 
to consider, falls naturally into three divisions. We confess in it 
our faith : first, in God — secondly, in God as Almighty — thirdly, 
in Almighty God as the Maker of heaven and earth. 

I. First, then, we confess our faith in God. " I believe in 
God." This confession implies two things : first, (( I believe in 
God," is an affirmative proposition ; I believe that God is, that 



ALMIGHTY GOD, TIIE MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH. 



13 



God exists, in opposition to Atheists, who say that there is 
no God — who deny the existence of God. And secondly, " I 
believe in God," is an exclusive proposition, a proposition which 
excludes from our confession of faith the notion of more gods 
than one ; " I believe in God," not in gods, but in God — in 
" the one living and true God," in opposition to Polytheists and 
Idolaters. 

The tendency of the human mind has always been towards 
Polytheism, not towards Atheism. Look at the " gods many " 
of Egypt and Persia, of Greece and Rome. Look at heathen 
nations now, at Hindoostan and Bur man. for example ; it is 
Polytheistic idolatry, not Atheism, which spreads its dark pall 
over those lands. " Atheism indeed is unquestionably a strange 
and startling and exceptional phenomenon. Faith in God is so 
inherent in the heart of humanity, and so essential to our reason, 
that many wise and good men have doubted if ever there lived 
an intelligent mortal so destitute of religious belief as is implied 
in Atheism. Addison would have told a man who gloried in this 
distinction, that he was an impudent liar, and that he knew it. 
Bacon accounted Atheism to be rather in the lip than in the 
heart, and thought a contemplative Atheist a prodigy, a thing 
unusually rare. And Dr. Arnold, in one of his letters, says, ' I 
confess that I believe conscientious Atheism not to exist.' And 
it does appear an incredible thing, that a man possessed of 
intelligence and feeling, standing amid this glorious amphi- 
theatre of earth and sky, gazing upon its grand and lovely forms, 
and listening to its thousand voices of rapturous praise, can 
coolly deny the existence of Him who sits enthroned above the 
heavens. It does seem hard to be believed that one of our race 
can retire into the depths of his own inner nature, and familiarize 
himself with the wondrous phenomena of his mental existence, 
and yet come out of himself, and unhesitatingly declare that this 
great system of animate and inanimate being is without a pre- 
siding and independent mind." 

And yet such prodigies there have been, both in ancient and 
modern times. For what was the Reign of Terror in France 
at the close of the last century, but the reign of most absolute 
Atheism ? The French Convention declared the throne of the 



14 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



heavens vacant, and made a proclamation through the land that 
there was no God ; you know the terrific results that followed. 
You know how society was then reft of all its safeguards, how 
crime was committed without any dread of punishment, how 
the vilest passions of the vilest men rushed onward without 
restraint, how France, under the reign of Atheism, became like 
a troubled sea, yea, a very sea of blood. Then it was seen and 
felt that nations, like individuals, cannot be prosperous and safe, 
enjoy liberty and be at peace, without acknowledging the living 
and true God. 

" I believe in God;" I believe that God is. Do you look, 
(not because you doubt the fact that God is, but rather because 
with adoring love you delight to trace the footsteps of the 
Creator,) do you look, I say, for proofs of this affirmative pro- 
position ? then look where you will, you find them. 

1. Look at the iconderful consent of all nations to which I 
have referred. True, some savage tribes have been discovered 
which seem to acknowledge no God, but they are the lowest pos- 
sible in the scale of humanity. True (as I have observed) the 
highly civilized French nation in a terrible moment denied the 
existence of God, but quick and irresistible was the recoil ; for 
that same Convention which had publicly disowned the Most 
High, and proclaimed death to be an eternal sleep, was con- 
strained to recognize by enactment the existence of God and 
the immortality of the soul — was constrained to restore the 
Eternal One to a nation's faith and homage. These exceptions 
therefore do not derogate from, but rather confirm the force of 
the theistic argument drawn from the consent of all nations. 
Another objection, however, to this argument is raised. Men 
do not agree as regards their notion of God. True, and yet at 
the bottom of all variety of opinion the general idea of God 
remains as a fixed persuasion. 

2. Look at the proofs of design which everywhere meet us 
in the material universe. From the beginning men have been 
reasoning from the evidences of design in the material universe 
to the existence of the Great Designer ; they have ever been 
reasoning from the orderly and beneficial dispositions of matter 
to the Divine hand which framed the whole. And this old and 



ALMIGHTY GOD, THE MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH. 15 



beaten path is the truest and safest still. It is the argument 
with which the nineteenth Psalm opens : " The heavens declare 
the glory of God, and the firmament sheweth His handiwork." 
Nature in all her departments abounds in such evidences ; astro- 
nomy, from the vastness of the field it occupies, and the 
grandeur of the laws and objects which it unfolds, has ever 
taken the most prominent position among the sciences in this 
matter of furnishing proofs of a Divine hand at work in the 
material universe. Other sciences, however, in proportion to 
the care with which they are studied, furnish such proofs in rich 
abundance, (proofs, too, which are very often more within our 
reach than those furnished by astronomy,) geology, botany, 
comparative anatomy, chemistry, with the whole array of 
modern sciences, can be, and have been successfully appealed to, 
to show that in all and every department of nature, there are 
special ends and special adaptations which mark the presence 
everywhere of an infinitely wise God. 

Some timid and rather narrow-minded people have regarded 
with dread, and even aversion, the advancement of modern 
science. They thought that this advancement endangered the 
work of God; they had a vague fear that the cause of our holy 
religion would be thereby impaired. The most recent scientific 
contribution made to natural theology shows how utterly ground- 
less was that fear. The masterly work on " Typical Forms and 
Special Ends in Creation" embodies some of the most recent 
discoveries of natural science ; discoveries which, as the authors 
of that book show, from a wide series of facts — enables natural 
theology to take a great step in advance. The book unfolds the 
nature of the order prevailing in the material world, and the 
nature of the special adaptations to be found therein. It then 
furnishes a series of facts, drawn in many instances from recent 
discoveries of science, which give indication of combined order 
and special adaptation throughout the various kingdoms of nature. 
I cannot forbear reading the closing sentences of a chapter in 
which the learned authors sum up the argument from combined 
order and special adaptation. 

" In civil architecture there are four principles, it is said, to 
be attended to ; — first, convenience ; second, symmetry ; third, 



16 THE APOSTLES' CREED. 

eurythmy, or such a balance and disposition of parts as evi- 
dences design ; and fourth, ornament. It is pleasant to notice 
that not one of these is wanting in the architecture of nature. 
Any one of them might be sufficient to prove design ; the 
presence and concurrence of them all furnishes the most over- 
whelming evidence. Upon taking a combined view of the whole, 
we feel as if we have proof of much more than of the existence 
of law or a principle of order ; we feel as if we have distinct 
traces of a personal God, planning minute and specific ends. We 
do not know whether to admire most the all-peivading system 
which runs through the whole of nature, through all parts of the 
plant and animal, and through the hundreds of thousands of 
different species of plants and animals, or the skilful accommoda- 
tion of every part, and of every organ, in every species, to the 
purpose which it is meant to serve. The one leads us to discover 
the lofty wisdom which planned all things from the beginning, 
and the enlarged beneficence reaching over all without respect of 
persons ; whereas the other impresses us more with the providen- 
tial care, and special beneficence which, in attending to the whole, 
has not overlooked any part, but has made provision for every 
individual member of the myriads of animated beings." 

Time forbids me dwelling longer on this interesting subject. 
I would glance at another field of proof. Pass on from the 
phenomenon of matter to those of mind. 

3. Look at the evidences of design presented by our own mental 
constitution. In mind you have effect endowed with intelligence, 
reason, and moral sentiments. This effect, like all other effects, 
must have had a cause. Now, no effect certainly can possess 
a perfection which was not in the cause ; hence we infer that 
the Creator of the human mind is a moral and intelligent 
Being. Thus the Bible teaches us to reason, " He that 
planted the ear, shall He not hear ? He that formed the 
eye, shall He not see ? He that teacheth man knowledge, 
shall not He know?" 

There is one part, however, of our mental constitution, which 
bear unmistakable witness for God, yea, for a God who is holy 
and righteous in all His ways. You have already concluded that I 
refer to that mysterious part of our inner nature called conscience. 



ALMIGHTY GOD, THE MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH. 17 

" It sits/' says one, " enthroned amid the other principles of 
our nature, and is invested with a rightful authority over them. 
Its voice — the voice of a sovereign judge — is heard above the 
tumults of passion, and the rebellious uproar of less noble propen- 
sities. And though its high behests are not always obeyed, yet its 
right to rule is everywhere acknowledged. It is sovereign dejure 
even where it is not sovereign de facto. Now let it be observed 
that all the authority of this faculty is on the side of righteous- 
ness and truth ; that it has its sanctions for the enforcement of its 
utterances ; that it approves the good and denounces the evil ; 
and in the righteous supremacy of this part of our nature, we 
have a strorjg proof for the existence of a just and holy God. 
The authority of a law of right and wrong in our moral 
constitution implies a lawgiver ; the setting up of a tribunal 
within the breast points to a yet higher tribunal in the heavens ; 
and from the felt presence of a judge within us, denouncing 
wrong and sanctioning right, we infer the existence of a 
righteous judge over us who is at once its Author and Lord. 
In the supremacy of this moral principle we have strong 
evidence not only of an intelligent Creator, but of One who is 
just and true in all His ways, and holy in all His works. And 
this theology of conscience, as Dr. Chalmers remarks, has done 
more to uphold a sense of God in the world than all the 
theology of academic demonstration." 

4. Then look not only at man's inner nature, but look at man 
as a whole, and what powerful proof may be drawn from this 
source, that an infinitely wise God is our Creator, that the 
Spirit of God hath made us, and the breath of the Almighty 
hath given us life. Man is indeed fearfully and wonderfully 
made. " The human frame is the noblest structure beneath the 
heavens. In the exquisite mechanism of man's body, and in the 
primitive judgments and wondrous operations of his mind, we 
have the clearest indications of the Creator that lie within the 
range of natural theology. ' If you want argument from design, 9 
says Mr. Morell, tf then you see in the human frame the most 
perfect of all known organization. If you want the argument 
from being, then man, in his conscious dependence, has the 
clearest conviction of that independent and absolute One, on 

c 



is 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



whom his own being reposes. If you want argument from 
reason and morals, then the human mind is the only known 
repository of both. Man is in fact a microcosm, a universe in 
himself ; and whatever proof the whole universe affords, is 
involved in principle in man himself. With the image of God 
before us, who can doubt of the Divine type V " 

5. Lastly, the testimony of the Bible comes in and crowns the 
theistic argument. It authenticates the deductions of enlight- 
ened reason, and confirms those primitive judgments whereby 
we repose in the belief that God is, and that "He is what He is." 
The sublime utterance of inspiration chosen as my text for this 
evening, £f In the beginning God created the heaven and the 
earth," proves that our reasoning upwards from matter and mind, 
to the infinite creating mind, is true. The Bible of course (as 
a revelation from God) presupposes the Divine existence, and 
never formally attempts to prove it. It appeals to that very 
experimental evidence which is patent to the eyes of all men, 
as a witness against irreligion and idolatry — as a witness for 
the only living and true God. 

So far we have considered the proposition "I believe in God" 
in its affirmative aspect ; let me now add one word on this pro- 
position in its exclusive aspect. We believe in one living and 
true God. 

The Scriptures reveal not many gods, but one. The first 
commandment of the decalogue is, " Thou shalt have none 
other gods but Me." The reiterated utterance of Jehovah is, 
" I am the first and the last, and beside me there is no God." 
The teaching of the New Testament harmonizes of course with 
the Old. " There is one God, and one Mediator between God 
and men, the man Christ Jesus." " Thou believest there is one 
God — thou doest well." 

II. The second division of our subject now claims our 
attention for a short time. We confess our faith in God 
as Almighty. Our confessions on earth harmonize with the 
expressions used by the redeemed in their worship before the 
throne of God in heaven. Look at Kev. iv. 8 : " They rest 
not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God 
Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come." It was as the 



ALMIGHTY GOD, THE MAKER OE HEAVEN AND EARTH. 19 



Almighty God that Jehovah revealed Himself to Abraham. 
Look at Gen. xvii. 1 : " The Lord appeared to Abram, and said 
unto him, I am the Almighty God ; walk before Me, and be thou 
perfect." It was because Jehovah was the Almighty God that 
David felt secure under His protecting care. Look at Ps. xci. 
1 : " He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High, 
shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty." It is as the 
Almighty Lord, able to make full provision therefore for His 
people, that our heavenly Father, in the New Testament, invites 
us to come to Him. Look at 2 Cor. vi. 17, 18: " Wherefore 
come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, 
and touch not the unclean thing ; and I will receive you, and will 
be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, 
saith the Lord Almighty." 

(i The word Almighty '," says Bishop Pearson, e( points to 
God's dominion over all, His rule and government of all." This 
dominion is independent of all control, " Who," asks the prophet 
Isaiah, " Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord, or, being 
His counsellor, hath taught Him ? With whom took He counsel, 
and who instructed Him, and taught Him in the path of judg- 
ment, and taught Him knowledge, and shewed to Him the way 
of understanding ?" Again, this dominion which God possesses 
as Almighty, is infinite — infinite in extent and in duration. 

Infinite in extent. Look at the beautiful words of David in 
1 Chron. xxix. 11, 12: "Thine, O Lord, is the greatness, and 
the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty : for 
all that is in the heaven and in the earth is Thine ; Thine is 
the kingdom, O Lord, and Thou art exalted as head above all. 
Both riches and honour come of Thee^ and Thou reignest over 
all ; and in Thine hand is power and might ; and in Thine hand 
it is to make great, and to give strength unto all." 

Infinite in duration. The dominion of God is eternal. There- 
fore St. Paul calls God " the King Eternal;'' 9 and therefore 
David, in declaring the mighty acts and the abounding good- 
ness of the Lord, in Ps. cxlv., says (i Thy kingdom is an 
everlasting kingdom, and Thy dominion endureth throughout 
all generations." 

Sovereign in its nature, far above all control ; boundless in 

c 2 



20 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



its extent, and endless in its duration, is the dominion, and rule, 
and government of Almighty. Let the thought of this fill us 
with reverence for His Majesty; let it keep us from all murmur- 
ings against God's dealings with us. Patient submission becomes 
weak and sinful creatures under the hand of the Almighty. 

III. We come now to the last division of our subject. We con- 
fess our faith in Almighty God as the Maker of heaven and earth. 

Natural Theology, as I have already hinted, conducts by a 
process of inductive reasoning, to a belief in God as the Maker 
of the material universe, i.e., of things seen, things visible. But 
by this Article of our faith we are summoned to believe much 
more than this ; we are summoned to believe in God as the 
Maker of heaven and earth, i.e., of things invisible as well as 
visible, i.e., of every thing imaginable, God only being excepted. 

Natural Theology, except in the way of analogy, will not 
help us here. What then saith the Scripture ? Its very first 
word is, " In the beginning God created the heaven and the 
earth." Look at a few other passages which enunciate this 
sublime truth. Look at Nehemiah's prayer, Neh. ix. 6: "Thou, 
even Thou, art Lord alone ; Thou hadst made heaven, the heaven 
of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are 
therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and Thou preservest 
them all ; and the host of heaven worshippeth Thee." Look at 
the words of Job (ix. 8 — 10) : " Which alone spreadeth out 
the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea. Which 
maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the 
south. Which doeth great things past finding out ; yea, and 
wonders without number." Look at the words of the Psalmist, 
Ps. xxxiii. 6 : " By the Word of the Lord were the heavens 
made ; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth." 
Look at the declaration of Jehovah Himself, in Is. xlii. 5: <f Thus 
saith God the Lord, He that created the heavens, and stretched 
them out ; He that spread forth the earth, and that which 
cometh out of it ; He that giveth breath unto the people upon it, 
and spirit to them that walk therein." Again, look at Jer. x., 
where a striking contrast is drawn on this very point between 
the true and living God and the false gods of the heathen. 
(s Thus shall ye say unto them, The gods that have not made the 



ALMIGHTY GOD, THE MAKER OF HEAVEN AND EARTH. 21 

heavens and the earth, even they shall perish from the earth, 
and from under these heavens. He hath made the earth by His 
power, He hath established the world by His wisdom, and hath 
stretched out the heaven by His discretion. When Heuttereth 
His voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens, and He 
causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth ; He 
maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of 
His treasures. Every man is brutish in his knowledge : every 
founder is confounded by the -graven image : for his molten 
image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They are 
vanity, and the work of errors : in the time of their visitation 
they shall perish. The portion of Jacob is not like them : for 
He is the former of all things ; and Israel is the rod of His 
inheritance : The Lord of hosts is His name." (Jer. x. 11 — 16.) 
Turn to the New Testament. Standing in heathen Lystra, 
what does St. Paul say of the true God ? Look at Acts xiv. 15 : 
" We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto 
you, that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, 
which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that 
are therein." And so afterwards in idolatrous Athens, St. Paul 
declares to the Athenians the true God as the Maker of all 
things. Look at Acts xvii. 24, 25 : " God that made the world 
and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and 
earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; neither is 
worshipped with men's hands, as though He needed any thing, 
seeing He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things." 

It were easy to multiply proof on this subject an hundredfold, 
were it needful so to do. 

We believe then in Almighty God as the Maker of heaven and 
earth. What practical effect should this belief produce in us ? 

1. It ought certainly to humble us. Such was the effect 
produced upon David by a contemplation of God as the Great 
Creator. Look at Ps. viii. 3,4: " When I consider Thy heavens, 
the work of Thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which Thou 
hast ordained ; what is man, that Thou art mindful of him ? and 
the son of man, that Thou visitest him ? " And yet God has 
been mindful of us. Mindful of us in creation — we are each 
one " fearfully and wonderfully made." Mindful of us in 



22 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



providence — He watches over us from day to day. He " daily 
loadeth us with benefits." Mindful of us in redemption — He sent 
His dear Son into the world to save us from hell 5 and to exalt 
us to the lost dominion over the works of His hands. 

While we may well then be humble when we behold the great- 
ness of God's works, and the insignificancy of man, we may 
well be thankful too, that God, in the midst of His mighty works, 
has been mindful of man. If you ask, Why has He been mindful? 
I answer, Look to the right hand of the throne of the Majesty 
in the heavens, and see who sitteth there. 

2. Again — a belief in God as our Creator should lead us to 
obey Him. Thus it was with the Psalmist (cxix. 73 J: "Thy 
hands have made me and fashioned me : give me understanding, 
that I may learn Thy commandments.' 5 God as our Creator hath 
a claim on our obedience. How few acknowledge the claim ! 
Angels in heaven do God's commandments, hearkening unto 
the voice of His Word. The elements do God's bidding. Fire 
and hail, snow and vapours, storm and wind, are ever fulfilling 
His Word. Man, alas ! is rebellious. This should not be ; the 
God who made us, whose our breath is, and whose are all our 
ways, has unquestionably a claim on our obedience. 

3. Once more— a belief in Almighty God as the Maker of 
heaven and earth is well calculated to console and strengthen us 
under all trials and difficulties. See how David rested upon 
this help of God for security and peace. Look at Ps. cxxi. 2, 3 : 
" My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and 
earth. He will not suffer thy foot to be moved : He that 
keepeth thee will not slumber." The Almighty God, the 
Maker of heaven and earth, is well able to keep us. Let us 
then commit ourselves entirely into His hands. He will 
preserve us from all evil, He will preserve our souls — 

" Midst the roarings of the sea, 
Sweet it is to Him. to flee : 
He is faithful, He is near, 

Wherefore should His people fear." 



SERMON III. 



THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD. 

"But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and 
we in Him ; and one Lord J esus Christ, by whom are all things, and we 
by Him."— 1 Cor. viii. 6. 

" Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to My 
Father : but go to My brethren — and say unto them, I ascend unto My 
Father, and your Father; and to My God, and your God." — John xx. 17. 

Last Sunday evening I said that the first article of the 
Apostles' Creed might be divided into two parts. The first, 
that in which we confess our faith in God, in God as 
Almighty, and in Almighty God, as the Maker of heaven and 
earth. And the second, that in which we confess our faith in 
God as the Father, the first person of the ever blessed Trinity. 
Last Sunday evening we considered only the first part of this 
article. The second I reserved for our consideration this 
evening. The subject, then, which is before us now, is the 
Fatherhood of God — a subject which must ever be of the 
deepest interest to the intelligent believer — a subject at all 
times important, but doubly so now, owing to the false 
teaching of modern days, which would eliminate from the 
Fatherhood of God one of its most essential elements, the 
element of law and justice. 

The Fatherhood of God is a very extensive subject. Now as 
I wush to give you, if possible, a comprehensive idea of the 
whole, I shall not be able to dw T ell much on the minute details 
connected with it. 1 must refer those of you who would pursue 
the subject further, to various works which elucidate fully its 
different aspects. Such as Bishop Pearson on the Creed ; Dr. 
Candlish's Examination of Mr. Maurice's Theological Essays ; 
the late Sir E. Parry's valuable work on the Parental Character 



24 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



of God; and the recently published work of Mr. Griffith, on the 
Fatherhood of God — a work in which you will find the Father- 
hood of God in one of the most important aspects, first asserted, 
then vindicated from the objections to it, drawn equally from the 
disorder and from the order in the world, and finally established 
by the testimony of reason and of holy Scripture. 

There are three grand aspects under which we may view the 
Fatherhood of God. First, in relation to creation at large — - 
then in relation to Christ — and finally, in relation to believers. 

I. God is the Father of all things, animate and inanimate, 
by creation. 

II. God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, both in His 
Divine and human natures. 

III. God is the Father of those who believe in Christ, by 
adoption, 

In the texts which I have selected, you have these three 
aspects of the Fatherhood of God presented to your view. In 
the first, that in first Corinthians, you read of God the Father, 
" of whom are all things." There is the Fatherhood of God in 
relation to the whole of created things. In the second you hear 
Christ saying to Mary of Magdala, " I ascend unto My Father 
and^our Father." There you have the Fatherhood of God in 
relation to Christ. Christ speaks of Him as " My Father ;" 
and there, too, you have the Fatherhood of God in relation 
to Christ's people ; my Father, Christ says to Mary Magdalene, 
(and in her to all believers,) is also " your Father." " I 
ascend unto My Father and your Father." 

I. First, then, let us consider the Fatherhood of God in 
relation to creation at large : God is the Father of all things, 
animate and inanimate, by creation and preservation. 

The highest of created intelligences, holy angels, owe their 
existence to God ; therefore they are called in a passage, which 
I believe refers to angels, the sons of God. The passage I allude 
to is to be found in Job xxxviii : i( Where wast thou," says the 
Lord to Job, "when I laid the foundations of the earth? de- 
clare, if thou hast understanding. Who hath laid the measures 
thereof, if thou knowest ? or who hath stretched the line upon 
it ? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened ? or who 



THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD. 



25 



laid the corner stone thereof, when the morning stars sang 
together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy ? " 

We have a reference to these eldest born of God's created 
sons in Gen. ii. 1 : " Thus the heavens and the earth were 
finished, and all the host of them." And who form " the host 
of heaven," if not the mighty angels ? God created angels ; to 
Him therefore these principalities and powers owed allegiance. 
Called into existence by the creative flat of the Almighty 
Father, Him they were bound to obey. Some humbly 
acknowledged, and still acknowledge this claim of God their 
Father ; they do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice 
of His Word. But others proudly disowned this claim; and 
these angels that sinned God spared not ; He cast them out of 
heaven — He has reserved them unto the judgment of the great 
day. Thus are we warned on the very threshold of our subject 
against the false teaching of those who would eliminate from the 
paternal character of God the idea of retributive justice. 

But God is not only the Father of angels, JTe is also 
the Father of men, the Father of all men by creation. The 
heathen in the midst of their idolatry acknowledged this 
Fatherhood of God in relation to all mankind. You will 
remember how from this acknowledgment the Apostle St. Paul 
shows the Athenians the folly of idolatry. Look at Acts xvii. 
%8 9 29: "For in Him we live, and move, and have our being; as 
certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also His 
offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, 
we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or 
silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device." 

To Adam in Eden one command of God was given, to teach 
man, that by virtue of his creation, he was bound to obey God. 
That one command was disobeyed, and retributive justice at 
once appeared (as in the case of the angels that fell) to be 
an essential element in the paternal character of God. Man 
expelled from Paradise — the ground for his sake cursed — the 
sorrows of woman — the whole creation subject to vanity — 
proclaim the fact, that from the Fatherhood of God you cannot 
eliminate the idea of retributive justice. 

Blessed be God, in the case of fallen man there was what 



26 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



there was not in the case of fallen angels, a silver lining to the 
dark cloud of judgment. There was a promise of mercy in store 
for fallen man ; but of mercy, mark you. coming in the way of 
righteousness, coming through sin atoned for, coming therefore 
in a way in which the moral government of the great Father of 
the universe would be in no wise compromised. 

But once more, God is not only the Father of angels and 
men, He is also the Father of all things, animate and inanimate. 
" To us," says St. Paul, " there is but one God the Father, of 
toJiom are all things. 5 ' Of Him, as the source of all life, as the 
origin of all existence, spiritual and material, of Him are all 
things — from those distant suns that march on their majestic 
way through the depths of space, down to the humblest flora 
that adorn some untrodden regions of our globe — from those 
gigantic forms that filled the earth and air and seas of the pre- 
adamite world, down to the tiny insects which our microscopes 
discover in their teeming myriads in air and water. 

Of all things, by creation, God is the Father ; thus wide 
in its embraces is the Fatherhood of God. It is wide as the 
universe, for — -of Him are all things. This aspect of the 
Fatherhood of God, leads us to think of God, (as has been 
beautifully shewn in a recent work on this subject to which I 
have referred you,) as the Intelligent Author of all things ; 
sustaining all things in their individual life, as the self-existent 
Jehovah; organizing all things as parts of one symmetrical 
whole by His infinite wisdom ; and conducting all things by 
His all-pervading, ever-active presence, through various pro- 
cesses of development, to their appointed ends — ends which in 
the great consummation of all things, shall be seen to have been 
subordinate to the accomplishment of the Divine purposes. 

Again, this aspect of the Fatherhood of God, leads us not 
only to think of God as the Intelligent Author, but also as 
the Moral Governor of all things — regarding the wants of His 
creatures ; respecting the rights of His creatures ; and requiting 
the deserts of His creatures.* And finally, as we have seen in 
striking instances, this aspect of the Fatherhood of God leads 

* See " The Fatherhood of God," by the Rev. T. Griffith, for a full con- 
sideration of this part of the subject. 



THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD. 



27 



us to. think of God as the Righteous Judge of all things — 
jealous for the authority of His law and its sanctions ; not 
allowing that law to be trampled under foot with impunity, by 
either angels or men. 

Let not the current of modern thought sweep us away from 
this grand aspect of the Fatherhood of God. Let not, on the 
one hand, the order and uniformity that pervades the material 
world, tempt us to lose sight of the intelligent Author and 
Sustainer of this order and uniformity. Let not, on the other 
hand, the disorder and confusion caused by sin, or the perplexing 
nature of very much in our own lives and in the lives of others, 
tempt us to set loosely to the great truth, that, in spite of all, 
God is the moral Governor of all things : let us rest assured 
that the Judge of all the earth will do right. And finally, let 
not the false sentimentality of modern rationalism tempt us to 
forget that justice is one of the very pillars of the eternal 
throne — that God, if He is to be God at all, must be the 
righteous Judge of all things. 

Thus far, then, we have considered the Fatherhood of God 
generally, in relation to creation at large. 

II. Let us now turn to consider the second division of our 
subject. The Fatherhood of God in relation to Christ. God 
the Father, the first Person of the blessed Trinity, is the 
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in His Divine and in His 
human nature. 

This, I apprehend, is the special truth confessed in the 
Creed, when we acknowledge our faith in God the Father. 
The germ of the Creed, the baptismal formula, points to this as 
the principal aspect of the Fatherhood of God presented to 
us in this confession of our faith. The Creed itself, too, bears 
internal evidence confirmatory of this view. For after con- 
fessing our faith in God the Father, we go on immediately to 
confess our faith in Jesus Christ Mis only Son. The word Son 
of course points us back to the word Father, and determines 
the principal aspect of the Fatherhood of God, presented to us 
in our Creed. 

In two senses, I have observed, God is the Father of oar Lord 
Jesus Christ; first, in His Divine nature ; secondly, in His human 



28 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



nature. We are approaching now some of the deepest mysteries 
of our faith, mysteries revealed in God's holy Word, and there- 
fore demanding our reverent faith ; but mysteries far transcend- 
ing the comprehension of our finite minds. In dealing with 
them, therefore, it is our place not so much to investigate, as 
humbly and reverentially to receive what God has been pleased 
to reveal. 

1. First, then, God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ — 
the Eternal Word in His Divine nature. What says our blessed 
Lord Himself, in John x. 30 ? "I and My Father are one." It 
is quite evident that in these words Christ is not speaking of 
Himself in His human nature — He is speaking of Himself in 
His Divine nature, He is asserting in unmistakable language, 
His equality with the Father. And in reference to that Divine 
nature, He speaks of God as His Father. Take another pas- 
sage in connection with this. Look at John v. 26 : " As the 
Father hath life in Himself ; so hath He given to the Son to 
have life in Himself;" from which we learn, that the mode 
of existence which the Father possessed from all eternity, He 
communicated and necessarily from all eternity to the Son. 
All created beings have their existence, their life from God, 
they have not life in themselves ; but the Son, who is not 
created, but begotten, begotten from everlasting of the Father, 
hath life in Himself, derived certainly from the Father, but 
derived from everlasting. In the light of these declarations of the 
Word made flesh, we may understand that remarkable passage 
in the book of Proverbs, where, the Logos, the Word, the 
Wisdom of God, is speaking before His incarnation, and setting 
forth His eternal Sonship. Prov. viii. 22—30 : " The Lord 
possessed Me in the beginning of His way, before His works of 
old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or 
ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought 
forth ; when there were no fountains abounding with water. 
Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I 
brought forth : while as yet He had not made the earth, nor 
the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When 
He prepared the heavens I was there : when He set a compass 
upon the face of the depth : when He established the clouds 



THE FATHEKHOOD OF GOD. 



29 



above : when He strengthened the fountains of the deep : when 
He gave to the sea His decree, that the waters should not pass 
His commandment : when He appointed the foundations of the 
earth : then I was by Him, as one brought up with Him ; and 
I was daily His delight, rejoicing always before Him." 

2. But secondly, God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ 
in His human nature. In the second part of the Creed our 
attention will be drawn more fully to this subject. I only 
briefly advert to it now, to complete our view of the Fatherhood 
of God. On this subject, then, let the declaration of the angel 
Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin suffice for the present. " The 
Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest 
shall overshadow thee : therefore also that holy thing which shall 
be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." (Luke i. 35.) 

Before passing to the third and last division of our subject, let 
me remind you how throughout His life Christ honoured His 
Father. What are His first recorded words ? " How is it that 
ye sought me ? wist ye not that I must be about My Father's 
business ?" (Luke ii. 49.) What are His last recorded words ? 
" Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit." (Luke xxiii. 
46.) It was thus throughout His life, as the Gospel of St. John, 
above all the other Gospels, shows. It was thus after His 
resurrection. What were almost His first words after that event ? 
Those which I have read you from the twentieth chapter of 
St. John to Mary Magdalene, " Touch Me not ; for I am not 
yet ascended to My Father : but go to My brethren, and say 
unto them, I ascend unto My Father, and your Father ; and to 
My God, and your God." (John xx. 17.) He honoured His 
heavenly Father — He was subject as man to His earthly mother. 
What intense sacredness of obligation does this example of Christ 
impart to the central commandment of God's law, " Honour 
thy father and thy mother." It is Christ-like so to do. 

III. I come now to the third and last division of our subject. 
We have now finally to consider the Fatherhood of God in 
relation to believers. God is the Father of all those that believe 
in Christ, by adoption. That believers are, in this special 
and peculiar sense, God's children, is evident from holy 
Scripture. Look .at two passages out of many. Rom, viii. 



30 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



14 — 16 : " For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they 
are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of 
bondage again to fear ; but ye have received the Spirit of adop- 
tion, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth 
witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God." 
Gal. iv. 4 — 7 : "But when the fulness of the time was come, God 
sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to 
redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive 
the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent 
forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, 
Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son ; and 
if a son, then an heir of God through Christ." These Scriptures 
are sufficient to bring before us the Fatherhood of God in rela- 
tion to His adopted children. I have touched now on a very 
large and fruitful theme. I might enlarge on the nature of this 
adoption ; I might show what is God 's part on the one hand, 
and what is ours on the other. I might point out to you from 
the Scriptures the blessed fruits and consequences of God's adop- 
tion of us as His children ; how the Father feels a special love 
towards His adopted ones; how He makes a special provision 
for them now and hereafter ; how He extends to them special 
protection and guidance ; and how by a wonderful and loving 
discipline He trains them for that glorious inheritance to which, 
as His adopted children in Christ, they are heirs. 

But all these deeply interesting and profitable subjects I 
must pass by now, if I am to lead you to any practical view of this 
entire subject in conclusion. The Fatherhood of God, especially 
in the close and intimate relation of that Fatherhood to believers, 
suggests many practical considerations. I will mention three. 
The Fatherhood of God calls on us to exercise towards God, 
love, gratitude, and trust. 

Love. — The God in whom we have to believe is a loving 
Father. He loves us, He has created us, He has taken, and is 
taking care of us every day, and every hour, and every moment 
of our lives. He has redeemed us, by sending His Son to die 
for our sins ; He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him 
up for us all. Our Father, then, loves us — does not love demand 
love in return ? 



THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD. 



31 



Gratitude. — Let us recognize a Father's hand in all our 
blessings, temporal, providential, and spiritual. Let us remem- 
ber that it is the living God, even our Father in heaven, who 
giveth us richly all things to enjoy. Whatever, then, be our 
measure of blessing, it comes from a Father's bountiful hand. 
Let us be thankful, then — let us be grateful to our Father for 
what He gives us. 

Finally, Trust. — Will not a loving child trust in a loving 
earthly father? And shall we not much more trust in our hea- 
venly Father, who has far more ivisdom, and far more power, 
and far more love than any earthly father ? Yea, He is all- 
wise, all-powerful, all-loving. Is He not worthy, then, of our 
most unreserved trust. 

Shall we not trust Him, then, at all times ? in adversity as in 
prosperity? in sorrow, as in joy? in days of perplexity as in 
days when the course of our life runs on smoothly? 

They are the happiest, who are the most trustful. In a 
world of sorrow, and trial, and perplexity, and anxiety, they 
are, depend upon it, the happiest, who can leave all in the 
unreservedness of trust in a Father's hand — who can say in 
the calmness of that full trust : 

" Our times are in Thy hand, 
Father, we wish them there ; 
Our life, our friends," our souls we leave 
Entirely to Thy care. 

Our times are in Thy hand, 
Why should we doubt or fear ? 
A Father's hand will never cause 
His child a needless tear. 

Let these thoughts, then, Christian brethren, sink down into 
your hearts. Every day of your lives you call God, Father. 
Does He receive from you what He has a right to expect — love, 
and gratitude, and trust ? 



SERMON' IV. 



THE TITLES OF THE REDEEMER. 

" No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." — 
1 Cor. xii. 3. 

We enter this evening on the consideration of the second part 
of the Apostles' Creed. This part concerns God the Son oar 
Saviour. It embraces six subjects or articles of faith, the 
titles ; the incarnation ; the death ; the resurrection ; the 
exaltation ; and the second coming of our Lord and Saviour 
Jesus Christ. The first of these will occupy our attention this 
evening — the titles of our Redeemer. " I believe in J esus 
Christ, God's only Son our Lord." Here you have titles 
which point the work, the office, the nature, and the authority 
of our Saviour. 

I. First, you have a title pointing to His work. The name 
Jesus clearly has reference to this. For observe the special 
reason why this name was given. The reason is distinctly 
assigned by the angel who appeared to Joseph. " Thou shalt 
call His name Jesus, for He shall save His people from their 
sins." 

It was not at all an uncommon thing in Old Testament times 
to give a name as a memorial of some circumstance connected 
with the birth, character, or office of an individual. Thus our 
first mother was called Eve, i.e., "living," because she was the 
mother of all living ; thus the child of Hagar, the bondwoman, 
was called Ishmael, " God shall hear," because the Lord heard 
the cry of his mother in her affliction ; thus the younger of 
Rebecca's children was called Jacob, " supplanter," because in 
the purposes of God he was to supplant his elder brother Esau. 



TIIE TITLES OF THE REDEEMER. 



33 



Though afterwards Jacob's name was changed "to Israel, i.e., 
" a prince of God/' because at Bethel, as a prince he had power 
with God, and prevailed. Thus the child of Amram was called 
Moses, " drawn out," because in his infancy he v/as drawn out, 
and thus rescued from an early grave in the waters of the Nile. 
And thus the name of the successor of Moses, the victorious 
general who led the armies of Israel to the conquest of Canaan, 
was called Joshua ; which is an abbreviation of Jah-oshua, 
which means Jehovah the Saviour. And so when He came of 
whom Joshua was but a type, He had a name given Him by God, 
which clearly indicated the nature of the work He was to ac- 
complish. That work, as His name showed, was to be a work of 
deliverance — a work of salvation ; but a deliverance, a salvation 
of a far higher and more enduring nature than that effected for 
Israel by Joshua. " For," said the angel interpreting His name, 
" He shall save His people from their sins." This did not 
Joshua — this did none of those saviours who from time to time 
God raised up for His people Israel. This they could not do. 
Strengthened with Jehovah's might, they effected for the chosen 
nation a temporal deliverance ; but that was all. It remained for 
One mightier than they to effect, not for one nation only, but for 
all, eternal deliverance, deliverance from sin — deliverance from 
sin's condemning guilt, from sin's accursed power, from sin's 
eternal punishment. 

And this has Jesus done. He has not only revealed the way 
of salvation from sin — He has also procured and wrought out 
Himself this salvation by His Cross and Passion — by His precious 
Death and glorious Resurrection. Nor is this all : from the 
right hand of the Father, He confers this salvation on all who 
believe in His name. He gives them its blessed first-fruits now 
in this life, in the pardon of their sins, and the purifying of their 
hearts ; and hereafter in the life to come He will give them the 
full fruition of this salvation, in their complete and everlasting 
deliverance from all the varied consequences of sin. Well then 
may we call His name Jesus, for He, He alone, saves His people 
from their sins. 

What a holy intensity of love should this blessed name of 
Jesus kindle in our hearts ! It brings glad tidings of great joy 

m ' • ' " • • d 



84 



THE APOSTLES' CBEED. 



to sinners. It tells us, that unto us there is born a Saviour, 
that Saviour one whom God has Himself appointed to save us, 
that Saviour one who is Himself Divine, and who is therefore 
able to save unto the uttermost, all that come unto God by 
Him. 

II. I pass now from the first to the second title of our Lord, 
the title we so often associate with J esus ; the title of Christ, 
which points to the offices of our Redeemer. 

Christ is the Greek for the Hebrew term Messiah, which 
signifies Anointed. In affixing this title, then, to Jesus in our 
Creed, we confess our faith in Him as the promised Messiah. 
That Jesus is the Christ, the promised Messiah, is, as you all 
well know, the grand question at issue between Christianity and 
Judaism. In touching upon this among other great subjects, I 
can only indicate some of the lines of proof, which would be 
taken in arguing this question with the modern Jew. 

It is quite clear, from many passages of the Old Testament 
Scriptures, that the Messiah was promised. TJiat the unconverted • 
Jew readily admits. But it is clear also, from the Old Testa- 
ment Scriptures, that the time in which these promises were 
to be fulfilled is long since past ; and hence it follows, that the 
Messiah must have already come. 

Jacob on his dying bed gave this prediction to Judah, 
concerning the promised Messiah — {e The sceptre shall not 
depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until 
Shiloh come ; and unto Him shall the gathering of the people 
be." (Gen. xlix. 10.) But the sceptre has departed from Judah, 
and the lawgiver from between his feet ; therefore the Jew must 
admit that Shiloh, the promised Messiah, has already come. 
Again, it is plainly intimated by both Haggai and Malachi, 
that the Messiah was to come while the second temple was 
standing. The passage in Malachi is : " Behold, I will send 
My messenger, and he shall prepare the way before Me : and 
the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, 
even the Messenger - of the covenant, whom ye delight in, 
behold, He shall come, saith the Lord of hosts." The pas- 
sage in Haggai is : " The Desire of all nations shall come : 
and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. 



THE TITLES OF THE REDEEMER. 



3 5 



The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the Lord of hosts. 
The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the 
former, saith the Lord of hosts : and in this place will I give 
peace, saith the Lord of hosts." 

These passages prove that the promised Messiah iC the Angel 
of the covenant/' was to come while the second temple was 
standing. That temple has long since been destroyed, and 
therefore the Messiah must long since have come. 

And as regards the second of these passages, (that from 
Haggai,) it may be asked, wherein could the glory of the 
second temple be greater than the glory of the first, apart from 
the coming of the Messiah ? As far as magnificence of structure, 
and beauty of adornment, and visible signs of the Divine glory 
were concerned, the first temple was far superior to the second. 
Its inferiority consisted only in the fact, that whereas it 
contained the signs and emblems of the Divine glory, to the 
second temple came Him in whom these signs and emblems 
met their fulfilment ; the Messiah who in His own person, is 
the manifested glory of Jehovah. 

While these passages from Genesis, Haggai, and Malachi 
prove that the time for Messiah's first advent has long since 
past ; Daniel's prophecy in Babylon of the seventy weeks, 
determines for us exactly the time of that first Advent. History 
shews us that Jesus appeared at the very time predicted in the 
prophet Daniel — at the time, consequently, when there was 
a very general expectation among the Jews of the coming of 
the Messiah. 

Pursue this argument a step further. Look into all the 
prophecies in the Old Testament which concern the first 
coming of the Messiah, and you will find them all literally 
fulfilled in Jesus, and in Jesus alone. The Old Testament 
Scriptures tell you the family out of which Messiah was to 
come, the place of His birth, and the manner of His birth. It 
tells you that He was to come from the family of David, that 
He was to be born in David's city, the city of Bethlehem, 
and to be born of a pure virgin. All this you know has been 
fulfilled with minute exactness in Jesus. And further, when 
Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Mary the Virgin, the genealo- 

V % 



36 



THE APOSTLES 5 CREED. 



gical records of the J ews were carefully preserved, and hence 
it could then be proved, as it was proved, that Jesus was the 
Son of David ; but supposing the Jews were to acknowledge any 
one now, who might claim to be the Messiah, how could they 
prove him to be of the house and lineage of David ? The 
destruction of all their genealogical records has rendered such 
proof impossible. 

Further, the Old Testament Scriptures tell you what the 
Messiah was to do, and teach, and suffer. It tells you of the 
miracles He was to work — the heavenly teaching He was to 
impart to the meek and lowly — and with great minuteness of 
detail, it unfolds the sufferings He was to undergo ; and here 
again we see the prophecies of the past fulfilled with literal 
exactness in Jesus. 

And once more, the Old Testament Scriptures intimate in 
several places that the Messiah, though cut off, though making 
His soul an offering for sin, would not see corruption — that He 
would be begotten again from the dead ; and these prophecies 
have been fulfilled, as you know, in the resurrection of Jesus, 
whose soul was not left in Hades, and whose fiesh did not see 
corruption. 

Such are some out of the lines of proof which we might take 
to convince a Jew that Jesus is indeed the Christ. This title, 
however, besides involving a confession of our faith in the 
Messiahship of Jesus, points also to His principal offices. For 
if Jesus is the Christ, the Lord's anointed, the question at once 
arises, to what office or offices is He by this unction of the 
Lord separated ? Among the Jews, kings, priests, and prophets 
were anointed. Jesus embraces, as the Lord's Christ, these 
offices in His own person — He is God's anointed King. The 
second Psalm speaks of Him as such : " Why do the heathen 
rage, and the people imagine a vain thing ? The kings of the 
earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together 
against the Lord, and against His anointed, saying, Let us break 
their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He 
that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh : the Lord shall have 
them in derision. Then shall He speak unto them in His wrath, 
and vex them in His sore displeasure. Yet have I set My King 



THE TITLES OE THE REDEEMER. 



37 



upon My holy hill of Zion." Rev. xi. 15, points to the time 
when this shall be fulfilled : " The seventh angel sounded ; and 
there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this 
world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ ; 
and He shall reign for ever and ever." — He is God's anointed 
Priest. Ps. ex. 4, speaks of Him as such : " The Lord hath 
sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the 
order of Melchizedek." And the grand subject of the Epistle 
to the Hebrews is this divinely appointed priesthood of Jesus. — 
And finally, He is the Lord's anointed Prophet. Thus is He 
spoken of in Is. lxi. 1 : "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me; 
because the Lord hath anointed 'Me to preach good tidings unto 
the meek ; He hath sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted, 
to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the 
prison to them that are bound." Jesus at Nazareth claims this 
prophecy as fulfilled in Himself, and the whole teaching of 
Christ, a teaching which was with authority, showed that He 
was indeed the Lord's anointed Prophet. 

Are we sufficiently thankful for this threefold office of our 
Saviour and Redeemer ? Do we feel that we need Him in all 
these offices ? Have we given ourselves to Him as the Christ 
of God — the anointed Prophet to shew us the way of salvation ? 
the anointed Priest who has offered up the sacrifice of Himself 
for us, and who now, as our High Priest, ever liveth to make 
intercession for us, and the anointed King to leign supreme 
in our hearts now, and to bring us hereafter into His glorious 
an d everlasting kingdom ? 

We cannot neglect Jesus, our Divine Saviour — Jesus, the 
Lord's Christ, without dishonouring the Father ; for consider 
who Jesus Christ is ? He is God's only Son. 

III. This is the third title of our Redeemer brought before 
us in this Article of our Creed-— Jesus Christ is God's only 
Son. This title clearly points to the nature of our Redeemer. 
It leads us to confess that in His nature He is Divine. For 
consider, first, the meaning of the phrase Son of God, in the 
minds of those who used it. It was used to distinguish Him 
from all merely human beings. Thus it was applied to Christ 
on the mount of transfiguration. Prophets and Apostles were 



38 



THE APOSTLES CREED. 



present on that mount — saints of the Old and the New Testa- 
ment Church. But the voice of the Father, from the excellent 
glory, distinguishes Christ from either, " This is my beloved Son, 
in whom I am well pleased ; hear ye Him." In the same way 
St. Paul, in Heb. iii. 5, 6, uses this title of Son, to show the 
pre-eminence of Christ over Moses. " And Moses verily was 
faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those 
things which were to be spoken after ; but Christ as a Son over 
His own house." 

Further, the title is used to distinguish Christ from all angelic 
beings, as throughout the ' first chapter of Hebrews. Look 
especially at ver. 4 — 8 : " Being made so much better than the 
angels, as He hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent 
Name than they. For unto which of the angels said He at any 
time, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee? And 
again, I will be to Him a Father, and He shall be to Me a 
Son ? And again, when He bringeth in the first-begotten into 
the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship Him. 
And of the angels He saith, Who maketh His angels spirits, 
and His ministers a flame of fire. But unto the Son He saith, 
Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of righteous- 
ness is the sceptre of Thy kingdom." 

Further, it is used to distinguish Christ from all conceivable 
forms of created beings, as different in origin, degree, and hind. 
Look at Col. i. 13 — 17 : "God hath delivered us from the power 
of darkness, and hath translated us unto the kingdom of His 

dear Son who is the image of the invisible God, the 

first-born of every creature: for by Him were all things created, 
that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, 
whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or. 
powers : all things were created by Him, and for Him : and He 
is before all things, and by Him all things consist." Mark 
how in this passage the Son of God is distinguished from all 
created beings — He is the image of the invisible God ; in His 
Divine nature He is the exact representation and manifestation 
of the invisible Jehovah, "the first-born of every creature;" 
not the first created, but the first-born, "the first-born of every 
creature ; " born before every creature, born before the whole 



THE TITLES OF THE REDEEMER. 



39 



creation ; begotten of the Father by an eternal generation as 
the Son of His love. The next two verses contain the proofs 
of this assertion of Christ's Divinity, and show still more 
plainly His separateness as the Son of God from all created 
beings. First, He is Himself their Creator; and next, He is 
their final end. This is stated in ver. 16: "all things were 
created by Him, and for Him." Thirdly, He existed before 
them all, " He is before all things and finally, He preserves 
them all, for " by Him all things consist." 

If, then, the title " Son of God" was used to distinguish Christ 
from all human beings, from all angelic beings, and from all 
conceivable forms of created beings, it follows necessarily that it 
must be a title which equals Christ with Deity itself, a title 
which asserts His Divine nature. This line of argument will be 
confirmed, if we look not only at the meaning of the expression 
Son of God in the minds of those who used it themselves, but 
also at the meaning it had in the minds of those to whom it was 
addressed. How did the enemies of Christ understand it ? Just 
look at one or two passages which will shew the meaning it 
conveyed to their minds. John v. 17, 18: " Jesus answered 
them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Therefore the 
Jews sought the more to kill Him, because He not only had 
broken the sabbath, but said also that God was His Father, 
making Himself equal with God." 

Again, look at John x. 30 — 33 i (( I and my Father are one. 
Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. Jesus 
answered them, many good works have I shewed you from My 
Father ; for which of those works do ye stone me ? The Jews 
answered Him, saying, for a good work we stone Thee not ; but 
for blasphemy ; and because that Thou, being a man, makest 
Thyself God." And so afterwards the Jews accused Christ 
before Pilate of blasphemy — of claiming, that is, what belonged 
to God, because he said that He was the Son of God 

As used, then,- by the Father, by Christ Himself, by His 
Apostles, and as understood by the enemies of our Lord, the 
title Son of God, is one which asserts most unequivocally the 
Divine nature of Christ. 

And think not that in contending for the Divinity of our 



40 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



Lord, we are contending for any mere barren doctrine, any 
mere speculative dogma ; for let me briefly note some of the 
immense practical results which flow from the great truth that 
Christ is equal to the Father as touching His Godhead. 

1. It is only in the Divinity of Christ, that we have full 
assurance of the Father's love. We read in 1 John iv. 9, 10 : 
" In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because 
that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we 
might live through Him. Herein is love, not that we love4 
God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the pro- 
pitiation for our sins. 35 Where is the power of this passage ? 
Where is the wondrous love of God to man, if Christ was a 
mere man, or a created angel ? But let Christ be as Scripture 
teaches He is, the only begotten Son of God, He who had 
been from everlasting with the Father, and then indeed in the 
gift of Jesus you have the fullest possible assurance of the 
Father's love ; He who has not withheld His Son — the Son of 
love — from us, must indeed love us with a love the depth of 
which no human plumb-line can ever fathom. 

2. Again, in the Divinity of Christ, we have the assurance of 
our acceptance with God. How know we that Christ's sacrifice 
is more precious than the sacrifices of the old law ? or that 
Christ's mediation is more effectual than that of Moses ? Is it 
not the Divinity of Christ, which gives exhaustless efficacy to 
that sacrifice, resistless power to that intercession ? 

S. And once more, it is the Divinity of Christ which assures 
us of our complete victory over sin. How shall we be led on 
to that conquest without a Divine Leader, without a Divine 
Captain ? How shall we be nerved with strength in the con- 
flict against the principalities and powers of hell, except we 
are assured that we are fighting under the banner of One who 
is mightier than they ; of One against whose Divine strength 
the combined power of hell is but weakness ? 

IV. And now, let us turn to the fourth and concluding title 
of the Saviour in this article of our Creed. We confess our 
faith in Jesus Christ, God's only Son our Lord. This is a title 
which points to Christ's authority, to Christ's dominion over us. 
His dominion of course extends over all created things, animate 



THE TITLES OF THE REDEEMER. 



41 



and inanimate. The word " our" — "our Lord" leads us, how- 
ever, to consider that authority more immediately in relation to 
His people. Christ, it has been truly observed, is our authori- 
tative Teacher — our authoritative Ruler — and our authoritative 
Protector. These ideas of authoritative teaching, rule, and 
protection are, I apprehend, the principal ideas involved in 
Christ's Lordship over His people. Just one word about 
each. 

# Christ as our Lord, is our authoritative Teacher. His 
authority as a teacher, appears throughout His ministry in 
the manner of His teaching. The — " thus saith the Lord" — of 
the prophets, is replaced in Christ's case by the authoritative — 
" Yerily, I say unto you." That authority appears further in 
the claim Christ makes for Himself, viz., that of being the only 
revealer of the Father. See Matt. xi. 27. Christ's jealousy for His 
authority as the supreme Teacher of His people, appears from 
what He says to His disciples in Matt, xxiii. 8 — 10 : " Be not 
ye called Rabbi : for one is your Master, even Christ ; and all ye 
are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth : for 
one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called 
masters : for one is your Master, even Christ." Christ Himself 
has appointed in His Church divers helps, He has appointed 
ministers and teachers, who are to act under Him, who are to 
teach Sis words, — woe be to them if they teach them not ! 
who are to deliver His message. But — it is to His words, Sis 
message — whether coming to you from the pages of holy Scrip- 
ture, or proclaimed by His ministers,-— that He demands the 
submission of the heart and will. 

Again, Christ as our Lord, is our authoritative Ruler. He 
reserves to Himself in His Church the ultimate authority in 
government, as in teaching. Christ as our Lord claims authority 
over all that we do. Is there, then, anything that the Lord 
Christ forbids, which you are indulging in ? Or, is there 
anything which He commands, which you are making light 
of, overlooking, or shrinking from ? Then, brethren, let me 
earnestly entreat of you to remember the solemn words which 
Christ addresses to those who call Him " Lord, Lord," and do 
not the things which He says. Remember what He shows you 



42 



THE APOSTLES' CEEED. 



will be the ruin, the utter and irretrievable ruin in the end, of 
those who are satisfied with such an empty profession. 

But once more, Christ as our Lord is our authoritative 
Protector. The husband is the authoritative protector of his 
wife. So is Christ the heavenly bridegroom of His Church, 
His ransomed bride. He watches over His believing people 
with the tenderest affection — He guards them with constant 
care — He puts forth His arm to defend them from all evil. 
Amid the perils and troubles of an evil world, what a blessing; 
unspeakable to have such a Protector as Jesus — such an 
almighty arm to defend as that of the Lord Christ, who has 
said : (S All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth." 

In conclusion, let me ask, do we naturally acknowledge the 
authority of Christ ? We are ready enough to call Him Lord, 
Lord ; but are we in heart ready to bow to His authority ? Is 
not this, on the contrary, the thought of the unrenewed heart, 
" our lips are our own, who is Lord over us ? " — "What saith the 
Scripture ? What is its testimony on this matter? It is this : 
" No man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." 
If, then, we would not, only confess with the mouth, but also 
acknowledge with the heart, that Jesus Christ is Lord, our Lord ; 
if we would heartily submit to His authority over us as supreme, 
we must be taught of God's Holy Spirit. He alone can subdue 
the proud independence of the natural heart ; He alone can bring 
us in lowly submission of will to the feet of Jesus of Nazareth. 
And as He alone can lead us to say in heart, " Lord, what 
wilt Thou have me to do ?" so He alone can bring us day by 
day to rejoice in the submission to Christ's authority, which 
that question involves. 

Let the Holy Spirit of God be dwelling in our hearts ; and 
then we shall delight to learn of Christ our Lord as our 
Teacher — to follow Him in dutiful obedience as our Ruler — and 
to place ourselves evermore under His almighty guardianship 
as our Protector. 



SERMON V. 



CHRIST'S INCARNATION. 
" The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us."— John I. 14. 

Last Sunday evening I commenced the second part of the 
Apostles' Creed. We considered then the first article of that 
part which relates, as we saw, to the titles of our Redeemer — 
titles which have reference to His work as the Saviour, to His 
offices as the Christ, to His nature as the Son of God, and to 
his authority as our Lord. We proceed now to the second 
article of this part of our Creed, which has reference to the 
incarnation of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We con- 
fess in it, that Jesus Christ, God's only Son our Lord, " was 
conceived by the Holy Ghost, lorn of the Virgin Mary." We 
confess our faith in the mysterious doctrine of the incarnation, 
which St. John enunciates in our text: " The Word was made 
flesh, and dwelt among us ; " the doctrine which St. Paul 
declares as the first in order in the great mystery of godliness. 
ee Without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness, 
God teas manifest in the flesh" 

May the Spirit of God enable us to approach the consideration 
of this mysterious subject with becoming reverence. 

I. And first let us consider the fact itself — the incarnation 
of Christ. The fact which the Creed enunciates is not the 
product of theological speculation, but a matter of history — a 
matter of history authenticated to us by most certain warrants 
of holy Scripture. A fact, therefore, which amid all its 
inconceivableness, must stand as true and certain, till Scripture 
itself be overturned, and all the piled up mass of cumulative 
evidence for its Divine authority have been crumbled down and 
scattered to the w r inds. 



44 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



The Word, the Eternal Logos, who in the beginning was 
with God, the Word who was God, was made flesh, and dwelt 
among us. The Son of God, without ceasing to be God (for 
this were impossible) became man. 

First look at the predictions and foreshadowings of the fact 
in the Old Testament, and then at its fulfilment in the New. 

The earliest promise pointed to a human deliverer, to one 
who was to be born of woman, and yet one who was to be 
mightier than Satan, for He was to be ' Satan's vanquisher. 
Thus ran the ancient promise given in Eden : tf - And I will put 
enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed 
and her seed ; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise 
his heel." (Gen. iii. 15.) Here is the first promise of the 
Virgin-born ; a promise which sketches in outline the features 
of Him who was to be man, " born of woman," and yet more 
than man, the conqueror of man's great enemy. 

More than 2000 years after this first promise, another 
was given which pointed out the nation from whom the 
deliverer of mankind was to come. First to Abraham ; 
then, to his son, the child of promise, Isaac ; and then to 
Isaac's younger son, the child of election, J acob ; was given 
by the Lord the promise, " In thy seed, shall all nations 
of the earth be blessed." 

Again, a human deliverer is promised, one who according to 
the flesh was to be the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; one, 
therefore, who was come from the Jewish nation, and yet one 
who was evidently to be more than man, for in what mere man 
could all nations of the earth be blessed. 

Later still, (about 1690 years before the birth of the 
promised seed.) a prediction is given, in which the tribe is 
selected from whom the deliverer was to come. Reuben, 
Jacob's first-born, Simeon and Levi, his next two sons, are 
passed by, because stained by flagrant sins. Judah, the 
fourth son of Jacob, in the purpose of God is selected to be the 
ancestor of the promised deliverer, Shiloh^ unto whom would 
be the gathering of the people. 

Six centuries and a half passed away, and then the special 
family in the tribe of Judah was designated, from whom the 



Christ's incarnation. 



45 



promised deliverer was to come — the royal family of David. 
" Of the fruit of thy body/' God said to David, " will I set 
upon thy throne :" a prediction which, though receiving an 
immediate and partial fulfilment in Solomon, clearly looks on 
to One greater than Solomon, " the throne of whose kingdom 
God was to establish for ever." Here you have a king who 
was to be the Son of David, and yet a king whose kingdom 
was to be an everlasting kingdom. The promised deliverer, 
then, was to be man, and yet more than man, for He was to 
reign for ever ; He was to possess, as a later prophet predicted, 
an everlasting dominion, and a kingdom which (unlike all 
earthly kingdoms) should not be destroyed. 

Three centuries more passed away, and then about 750 years 
before the birth of the Saviour in the reign of Ahaz, God by 
His servant Isaiah gave the prediction that the promised seed 
should be born of a virgin. " Behold, a virgin shall conceive, 
and bear a son, and shall call His name Immanuel." (Isaiah 
vii. 14.) He was to be man, born of a virgin, and yet more 
than man, for He was to be called " Immanuel," God with 
us — God manifest in the flesh. 

A few years later, a little more than TOO years before Christ, 
Micah foretold the actual birth-place of the long promised 
Messiah. " But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be 
little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He 
come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel ; whose goings 
forth have been from of old, from everlasting." (Micah v. £.) 
Again you see the two natures of the Judge of Israel. Out of 
Bethlehem He was to come forth, — there is the human nature ; 
and on the other hand, of Him it is asserted, that His " goings 
forth have been from of old, from everlasting"— there is Divine 
nature. He who was from everlasting was to become man ; He 
was to be born in Bethlehem, born of a virgin, born of the 
family of David. 

I have only referred you to predictions of the incarnation — 
predictions which reach over 8500 years. But in the Old 
Testament there are not only predictions, but foreshadowings 
also of the incarnation. It would not be difficult to prove, that 
every Divine appearance in olden days, was an appearance of 



46 



THE APOSTLES' CEEED. 



the second person of the blessed Trinity, God the Son, the 
Angel of the Covenant. And on almost all occasions the form 
assumed by the Son of God, when thus appearing to men, was 
a human form. 

Take two remarkable instances of this. First look at the 
appearance of the Angel of the Covenant to Jacob : " And 
Jacob was left alone ; and there wrestled a Man with him until 
the breaking of the day. And when He saw that He prevailed 
not against him, He touched the hollow of his. thigh ; and the 
hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with Him. 
And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I 
will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And He said unto 
him, What is thy name ? And he said Jacob. And he said, Thy 
name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince 
hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. 
And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, Thy Name. 
And He said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after My 
Name? And Pie blessed him there. And Jacob called the name 
of the place Peniel : for I have seen God face to face, and my 
life is preserved." (Gen. xxxii. £4 — SO.) 

The other instance I would refer you to, is the appearance of 
the Captain of the Lord's host to Joshua, before the taking of 
Jericho : " And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, 
that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there 
stood a Man over against him with His sword drawn in 
His hand : and Joshua went unto Him, and said unto Him, 
Art thou for us, or for our adversaries ? And he said, Nay ; 
but as Captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And 
Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and 
said unto Him, What saith my Lord unto his servant ? And 
the Captain of the Lord's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe 
from off thy foot ; for the place ivhereon thou standest is holy. 
And Joshua did so." (Joshua v. 13 — 15.) This language of the 
Captain of the Lord's host to Joshua, is exactly the same as 
that addressed to Moses by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and 
Jacob, from the burning bush. It is unquestionably language 
which proves the Divinity of the speaker. This is confirmed 
by the title given to Him in the next chapter. The first verse 



Christ's incarnation. 



47 



of the sixth chapter is parenthetic, for the second and following 
verses of that chapter tell us what the Captain of the Lord's 
host said to Joshua when he had complied with the request 
which we have just read. " The Lord * said unto Joshua, See, I 
have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereof," &c. 

Now in both these instances you have the appearance of a 
Divine person in a human form, a foreshadowing of the time 
when the Son of God, the Angel of the Covenant, the Captain 
of our Salvation, should become man. 

But turn now from these predictions and foreshadowings of 
the incarnation in the Old Testament, to their fulfilment in the 
New. In te the fulness of time, " i.e. 3 when God's appointed time 
had fully come, "He sent forth His son, made of a woman, made 
under the law." "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among 
us." And how was this wondrous fact accomplished ? — Exactly 
according to the predictions of the Old Testament. Turn we 
to the simple narrative of the fact in the first and second 
chapters of St. Luke. First read the account of the annunci- 
ation. " And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent 
from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin 
espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of 
David ; and the virgin's name was Mary. And the angel came 
in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the 
Lord is with thee : blessed art thou among women. And when 
she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her 
mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the 
angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary : for thou hast found 
favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy 
womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call His name Jesus. 
He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest : 
and the Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father 
David : and He shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever ; 
and of His kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary 
unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man ? 
And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost 
shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall 

* The word here in the original, is Jehovah. 



48 



THE APOSTLES 5 CREED. 



overshadow thee.: therefore also that holy thing which shall be 
born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And, behold, thy 
cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age : 
and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. 
For with God nothing shall be impossible. And Mary said, 
Behold the handmaid of the Lord ; be it unto me according to 
thy word. And the angel departed from her." (Luke i. 26 — 
88.) After this wondrous message from the angel Gabriel, Mary 
visits her cousin Elisabeth, by whom she is saluted as the 
mother of her Lord. Soon after her return to Nazareth from 
the hill country of Judaea, we may suppose took place the 
vision which St. Matthew records in the first chapter of his 
Gospel, the vision which calmed the fears of Joseph. Some 
months after comes the decree for the enrolment, which 
brought Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem. And now let us, 
though we have often read it before, read the story of the birth 
of Christ in the city of David. " And it came to pass in those 
days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that 
all the world should be taxed. (And this taxing was first made 
when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.) And all went to be 
taxed, every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up 
from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the 
city of David, which is called Bethlehem ; (because he was of 
the house and lineage of David :) to be taxed with Mary his 
espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, 
while they were there, the days were accomplished that she 
should be delivered. And she brought forth her first-born son, 
and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a 
manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. And 
there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, 
keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of 
the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone 
round about them : and they were sore afraid. And the angel 
said unto them, Fear not : for, behold, I bring you good 
tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto 
you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is 
Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you ; Ye shall 
find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 



Christ's incarnation. 



49 



And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the 
heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the 
highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. And it 
came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into 
heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even 
unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, 
which the Lord hath made known unto us. And they came 
with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying 
in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known 
abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child." 
(Luke ii. 1—17.) 

Such is the story of Christ's incarnation. Such the 
Scripture warrant for the mysterious fact which the Creed 
commemorates, that Christ was conceived by the Holy Ghost, 
born of the Virgin Mary. As it was predicted so it came to 
pass. The Son of God became man, He was born in Bethlehem, 
born of a virgin, born into the family of David. 

And now, before passing to some of the Scriptural reasons 
for the fact, let us dwell a little on the narrative, as given 
us with such exquisite simplicity and beauty by the evangelist 
St. Luke. Let me give you from the pages of Dr. Ellicott's 
" Lectures on the Life of Christ," a reverent and thoughtful 
comment on the narrative I have read you from the first and 
second chapters of St. Luke. 

" What a vivid truth," says the Bishop, i( speaking humanly, 
there is in the narrative of St. Luke. With what marvellous 
aptitude to human infirmity do things Divine and human 
mingle with each other in ever-illustrative and ever- con- 
firmatory combinations. With what striking persuasiveness do 
mysteries, seemingly beyond the grasp of thought, blend 
lovingly with the simplest elements, and become realizable, by 
the teaching of the homely relations of humble and sequestered 
life. With what a noble and circumstantial simplicity is the 
opening story told of man's redemption. The angel Gabriel, 
he who stood among the highest of the angelic hierarchy, and 
whose ministrations, if it be not too bold a thing to affirm, 
appear to have been specially Messianic— just as those of 
Raphael might have pertained to individual need, and those of 

E 



50 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



Michael to judicial power — that blessed Spirit, who a few 
months before had been sent to announce the future birth of 
the fore-runner of Messiah, is now sent from God to a rude 
and lone village in the hills of Galilee, Nazareth the dis- 
esteemed, and to a betrothed virgin whose name was Mary. 
Of the early history of that highly favoured one we know 
nothing : yet without borrowing one thought from the 
legendary notices of apocryphal narrative, it does not seem a 
baseless fancy to recognize in her one of those pure spirits, that 
in seclusion and loneliness were longing and looking for the 
theocratic King ; and that, deeply imbued as we see the virgin 
must have been with the letter and spirit of the Old Testament, 
were awaiting the evolution of the highest of all its transcendent 
prophecies. Ra,pt as such an one might have been in devotion 
or in Messianic meditation, she sees beside her at no legendary 
spring side, but, as the words of the evangelist imply, in her 
own humble abode, the Divinely-sent messenger, and heard a 
salutation which, expressed in the terms in which it teas 
expressed, ' Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is 
with thee : blessed art thou among women and coming as it 
did from an angel's lips, must well have troubled that meek 
spirit, and cast it into awe and perplexity. 

sf What persuasive truth there is in the nature of the 
terms in which the announcement is conveyed. To that highly 
favoured one, that perchance had long mused in silence on 
the prophecies of the Messianic kingdom, to her is Jesus the 
Son of the Highest portrayed in His regal glory. And 
how characteristic the question, How shall this be ? The 
question not of outwardly expressed doubt like that of 
Zacharias, or of an inwardly felt sense of impossibility, like 
that of Abraham and Sarah, in the old and typical past, but 
of child-like innocence, that sought to realize to itself in the 
very face of seeming impossibilities, the full assurance of its 
own blessedness. No, there was no lack of faith in that 
question. It was a question to which the heavenly messen- 
ger was permitted to return a most explicit answer, and 
to confirm by a most notable example, that of her cousin 
Elisabeth, that with God no word was impossible, no pro- 



Christ's incarnation. 



51 



mise that was not to receive its completest and most literal 
fulfilment. 

"With these words of the angel, all seems to have become clear 
to her in regard to the wonder-working power of God ; much, 
too, must already have been clear to her on the side of man. 
With the rapid foreglance of thought she must have seen in 
the clouded future, scorn, dereliction, the pointed finger of a 
mocking and uncharitable world, calumny, shame, death. But 
what was a world's scorn and persecution to those words of 
promise? Faith sustains that positive shrinking from more 
than mortal trial, and turns it into meekest resignation : 
e Behold the handmaid of the Lord ; be it unto me according to 
thy word.' 

"From that time the blessed Virgin seems ever to appear 
before us in that character which the notices in the Gospels 
so consistently adumbrate, meek and pensive, meditative and 
reserved, blessed with joys no tongue can tell, and yet even in 
the first hour of her blessedness, beginning to feel one edge of 
the sword which was to pierce her loving and submissive 
heart." 

Passing by the Bishop's comment on Mary's visit to 
Elisabeth, and on the vision vouchsafed to Joseph, I come on 
to the nativity in Bethlehem. " And now the fulness of time 
was come. — By one of those mysterious workings whereby 
God makes the very worldliness of man to bring about the 
completion of His own heavenly counsels, the provincial taxing 
or enrolment of the persons or estates of all that were under 
the Roman sway, brings the descendants of David to David's 
own city. Very soon after the arrival at Bethlehem, perchance 
on the self-same night, in one of the limestone caverns in that 
narrow ridge of long grey hills on which stands the city of 
Bethlehem, was the Redeemer of mankind born into our world. 
How brief and how simple are the words that relate these 
homely circumstances of the Lord's nativity. How surely 
does the mother's recital and the mother's stored up memories 
come forth in the artless touches of detail. And yet with how 
much of holy and solemn reserve that first hour of a world's 
salvation is passed over by the Evangelist. We would fain 

e 2 



5 '2 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



inquire into the wonders of that mysterious night, and they are 
not wholly hid from us. The same Evangelist that tells us 
that the mid-day sun was darkened during the last hours of the 
Redeemer's earthly life, tells us also that in His first hours the 
night was turned into more than day, and that heavenly glories 
shone forth not unwitnessed, while angels announced to shep- 
herd watchers on the grassy slopes of Bethlehem, the tidings 
of great joy, and proclaim the new-born Saviour. 

" How mysterious are the ways of God's dealings with men ! 
The Desire of all nations come — the Saviour born into an 
expectant world — and announced to village shepherds. What a 
bathos, what a hopeless bathos to the unbelieving and unmedi- 
tative spirit! And yet what a Divine significance is there in 
the fact, that to the descendant of the first type of the Messiah — 
Abel, the keeper of sheep, the announcement is made that the 
great Shepherd of the lost sheep of humanity is born into the 
world ! What a mysterious fitness that the Gospel, of which 
the characteristic was that it was first preached to the poor, 
was first proclaimed neither to ceremonial Pharisees who would 
have questioned it, nor to the worldly Sadducees who would 
have despised it, nor to the separatist Essenes who would have 
given it a mere sectarian significance, but to men whose simple 
and susceptible hearts made them come with haste to Bethlehem, 
and see, and believe, and spread abroad the wonders they had 
been permitted to behold." 

Around the fact of Christ's incarnation we must linger 
no longer now. .As it was predicted and foreshadowed in the 
past, so it came to pass. " The Word was made flesh, and dwelt 
among us." And therefore " we believe and confess that our 
Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man ; God, of 
the Substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds : 
and Man, of the Substance of His Mother, born in the world ; 
perfect God, and perfect Man, of a reasonable soul and human 
flesh subsisting ; equal to the Eather, as touching His Godhead, 
and inferior to the Eather, as touching His Manhood. Who 
although He be God and Man, yet He is not two, but one 
Christ ; one, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but 
by taking of the Manhood into God ; one altogether ; not by 



Christ's incarnation. 



53 



confusion of Substance, but by unity of Person. For as the 
reasonable soul and flesh is one man, so God and Man is one 
Christ." 

II. And now let me say a few words in conclusion with 
reference to the reasons — the Scriptural reasons for the fact of 
Christ's incarnation. 

1. Christ became man in order that He might bring man, 
lost and ruined man, back to God — in order that He might 
bring the prodigal children back into the heavenly family. 
This is the reason St. Paul assigns for Christ's incarnation in 
Heb. ii. 14: "Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of 
flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the 
same ; that through death He might destroy him that had the 
power of death, that is, the devil." In order that He might be 
the Redeemer, He must be the kinsman ; and in order to be 
our kinsman, He must become man. As regards the means 
by which Christ as man effected this redemption, this restoration 
of man to God, I have not to speak now. The incarnation was 
the first step towards this redemption ; but, as you know, it 
was not the last. The incarnation was the necessary preparation 
for the Cross, for only as man could Christ suffer. 

2. Christ became man, in order that He might be able fully 
to sympathize with man. This St. Paul assigns as one reason 
for Christ's incarnation, in Heb. ii. 17, 18: "'Wherefore in 
all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, 
that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things 
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the 
people. For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, 
He is able to succour them that are tempted." 

3. Again, Christ became man, that as man He might set us 
an example that we should follow His steps. The example of 
Christ is often proposed for our imitation in holy Scripture ; 
but of course it is only as man, that we can in any degree be 
followers of Christ. As man He shows us how to resist Satan's 
temptations ; as man He has shown us our need of prayer, and 
taught us the spirit of submission in prayer ; as man He has 
shown us the beauty of humility and meekness and purity ; as 
man he has set us an example of diligence, of singleness of 



54 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



purpose, of unselfish, love, of tender thoughtfulness for the 
wants and feelings of others ; — in a word, as the perfect ideal 
of humanity, He has set us a perfect example. All that is noble 
in the character of man, all that is lovely in the character of 
woman, finds its union and perfection in the man Christ Jesus. 

To bring man back to God — to sympathize with man — to set 
man a perfect example — for these among many others reasons 
Christ, the Eternal Word, was made flesh and dwelt among us. 

And now, my brethren, let me endeavour to apply this whole 
subject to your hearts by one concluding question. Was the 
Son of God made flesh ? Did He take our nature upon Him ? 
Did He, who had been from everlasting dwelling with' the 
Father, come and dwell among us, and dwell among us in 
great humility ? And can you doubt the love of such a Saviour ? 

You are all ready to say — we doubt it not for one moment. 
Then act as those who doubt it not. Love Him who loved you 
in the past, and loves you still ; welcome Jesus Christ into your 
hearts. His love to us, demands nothing less than this at your 
hands and mine. 

" Jesus, Thy love unbounded 

So full, so sweet, so free, 
LeaTes all our thoughts confounded, 

Whene'er we think on Thee. 
For us Thou cam'st from heaven, 

For us didst bleed and die, 
That ransomed and forgiven 

We might ascend on high. 

Oh ! let Thy grace constrain us 

To give our hearts to Thee, 
Let nothing please or pain us, 

Apart, O Lord, from Thee : 
Our joy, our one endeavour, 

In suffering, conflict, shame, 
To serve Thee, gracious Saviour, 

And magnify Thy name." 



SERMON VI. 



CHRIST'S DEATH. 

For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that 
Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures." — 1 Cor. xv. 3. 

The Third Article of the second part of the Apostles' Creed 
demands our attention this evening. In that Article we confess 
concerning Christ our Lord, that He i( Suffered under Pontius 
Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried," and that (( He de- 
scended into hell." The great subject of this Article of our 
Creed is Christ's death. I will invite you to consider, first, 
the historical certainty of that death, and then its doctrinal 
significance. 

When our blessed Lord was upon earth, He said, " I, if I be 
lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me." And 
" this said He, signifying what death He should die." May 
the lifting up, then, of a Saviour crucified, draw many hearts to 
Him this evening, by the mighty working of the Holy Ghost. 
May you and I be led by the Spirit's teaching, to feel in our 
own hearts more and more of the attractive power of Christ's 
death. 

I. First, then, I invite you to mark the Historical Cer- 
tainty of Christ's Death. 

Its historical certainty is made to appear in the Creed in 
three particulars— time, manner, and results. 

1. Time. In reference to this particular the Creed says, 
Christ " suffered under Pontius Pilate." 

Judaea at that time was a part of the Roman province of Syria, 
and consequently under the care of the president of that pro- 
vince : according to this arrangement a particular procurator 



56 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



was assigned to it, and to this procurator was given, (in con- 
sequence of the suspicion that the Jews were disposed to rebel 
against the Soman government,) the power of life and death, 
so that the procurator or governor of Judaea exercised over 
the Jews at that time the full powers of the president of 
Syria, 

This procurator, at the time of Christ's death, was Pontius 
Pilate. He was appointed by Tiberius Caesar, and managed the 
affairs of Judaea for ten years, from the twelfth to the twenty- 
second year of Tiberius Caesar, i.e., from the year of our Lord 
twenty-six to thirty- six. Pilate in his official reports to the 
Emperor makes express mention of Jesus, and of his execution. 
And thus we have external testimony to the time, and so to the 
certainty of Christ's death. 

The statement, however, that Christ " suffered under Pontius 
Pilate," not only determines the time when Christ suffered ; 
it also points to the fact that Christ suffered as a just, a right- 
eous man, for none bore a more powerful testimony than Pilate 
to the innocency of Christ. Three times did he challenge the 
whole Jewish nation concerning Him, " Why ? what evil hath 
he done ?" Three times did he make the clear profession, " I 
have found no cause of death in Him ! " and at last, " When he 
saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was 
made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multi- 
tude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person : 
see ye to it." (Matt, xxvii. 24.) 

It would be foreign to my purpose to enter now into the 
character of this Roman governor who thus declared Christ's 
inuocence, and yet gave Him up to a death of agony and 
shame. Suffice it to say that he was one who acted (as many 
act now) against his own most solemn convictions, one who 
stifled the warning voice of conscience, and refused to follow 
its dictates. Had he only boldly resolved to give heed to the 
warning voice within, his name would never have held the 
melancholy place it does in our Creed — we would never have 
had to say of Jesus, that He suffered under Pontius Pilate. 

2. But further, the historical certainty of Christ's death is 
made to appear in the Creed, from the manner of that death — 



Christ's death. 



57 



crucifixion ; a mode of death the more important to be recorded, 
"not only/' as has been observed, "because of its connexion with 
the end for which Christ died, but also as illustrating the wond- 
rous way in which God accomplishes His purposes, and brings to 
pass things which in the judgment of men seem irreconcilable." 

It was hinted in more than one prophecy in the Old 
Testament, that the promised Messiah was to be crucified. 
For example, in Psalm xxii. 16, 17 : " They pierced My hands 
and My feet. I may tell all My bones: they look and stare 
upon Me." It was distinctly predicted by our Lord, that He 
should die in this way. I have already referred to one passage 
in which Christ foretold the manner of His death. Look 
at another, where He interprets an Old Testament type with 
reference to His crucifixion •* " As Moses lifted up the serpent 
in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up." 
(John iii. 14.) 

Now what seemed more unlikely than the fulfilment of these 
Old Testament types and prophecies, and these words of Christ 
respecting the manner of His death ? The persecutors of Christ 
were Jews, and the Jews then had not the power to put any 
one to death. And even if they had, crucifixion was not 
a Jewish mode of inflicting death. Yet Christ ivas put to 
death, and that by crucifixion. How was this brought about ? 
It was brought about, as has been observed, " by the malicious 
cunning of the Jews, who knowing their inability to punish 
Christ capitally, for what they deemed an offence against 
ecclesiastical law, accused Him to the Roman governor of an 
offence against the State, delivered Him over to Pilate as a 
prisoner of the State, and prevailed by clamour on that unjust 
judge, to inflict on Him the punishment assigned to offenders 
against the State — the Roman punishment for rebellion against 
the Roman authority, which was crucifixion." Thus the fore- 
ordained purpose of God was accomplished; thus the types and 
the prophecies in the Old Testament, and the words of Jesus 
which pointed to the manner of His death, were fulfilled. 

3. Once more, the historical certainty of Christ's death is 
made to appear in the Creed from the results which followed it. 
He truly and really died, was buried, and descended into hell. 



58 



THE APOSTLES' CEEED. 



(a) He truly and really died. As He was truly and really 
man, as He was clothed with our mortal nature, so did He 
undergo, not an apparent, but a true and real death. Thus 
testifies an eye-witness, one who stood by the Cross : " When," 
says St. John, " Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, He 
said, It is finished : and He bowed His head, and gave up the 
ghost." (Chap. xix. 30.) And to his own testimony John adds 
that of the Roman soldiers to the fact, that Christ was truly and 
really dead. They brake the legs of the two malefactors who 
were crucified with Christ, " but when they came to Jesus, 
and saw that He was dead already, they brake not His legs." 
(Ver. 33.) 

When we die, the soul leaves the body, and so it was with 
our blessed Lord when He died ; the soul of Jesus left His body 
at the moment of death. The Creed then goes on to tell us 
what became of each — the body and the soul of Jesus, till the 
morning of His resurrection. Each was conveyed to its ap- 
pointed resting place. The body was borne to the grave ; the 
soul went to the place of departed spirits. 

(b) The body was borne to the grave. Christ was buried — 
and buried in exact accordance with the prophecy of Isaiah, 
which foretold that the Messiah should be " with the rich 
in His death ;" for thus runs the account given us by the 
Evangelist St. Matthew: " When the even was come, there 
came a rich man of Arimathea, named Joseph, who also himself 
was Jesus' disciple : he went to Pilate, and begged the body of 
Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be delivered. And 
when Joseph had taken the body, he wrapped it in a clean linen 
cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out 
in the rock : and he rolled a great stone to the door of the 
sepulchre, and departed." (Matt, xxvii. 57—60.) And with 
Joseph of Arimathea there was associated in the burial of Jesus 
another rich man, Nicodemus, who at the first came to Jesus 
by night, but who had now it seems grown bolder, for now 
when the fondest hopes of Christ's disciples seemed all dashed 
in pieces ; now he fears not openly to espouse the cause of the 
crucified Nazarene ! 

( cj And while the body of Jesus, by Joseph of Arimathea 



Christ's death. 



59 



and Nicodemus, and the loving hands of ministering, sorrowing 
women, was reverently buried, His soul went to the place of 
departed spirits— Christ descended into hell. 

Mark first the scriptural authority on which we assert this 
fact concerning the human soul of Jesus. Turn to Acts ii. 25 
— 28 : " For David speaketh concerning Him, (Christ,) I fore- 
saw the Lord always before my face, for He is on my right 
hand, that I should not be moved : therefore did my heart 
rejoice, and my tongue was glad ; moreover also my flesh shall 
rest in hope : because Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, 
neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption. 
Thou hast made known to me the ways of life ; Thou shalt 
make me full of joy with Thy countenance." So far you have the 
quotation from the sixteenth Psalm. And now read St. Peter's 
comment on these words of David : " Men and brethren, let me 
freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that He is both 
dead and buried, and His sepulchre is with us unto this day. 
Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn 
with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to 
the flesh, He would raise up Christ to sit on his throne ; 
he seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that 
His soul was not left in hell, neither His flesh did see 
corruption." (Ver. 29—31.) 

This is the Scripture warrant for the statement in the Creed, 
that Christ descended into hell. It is not indeed the only 
passage bearing on this subject, but let it suffice for the present. 

Now what are we to understand by this fact, thus taught in 
Scripture and embodied in the Creed, that Christ descended 
into hell ? Certainly we are not to suppose, (as did Calvin,) that 
Christ descended into the place of torment, and suffered the pains 
in store for the lost. The word in the original in Acts ii. is not 
^{eewa (Gehenna), the place of torment ; but $<ty<? (Hades), which, 
according to its derivation, simply signifies a place unseen. The 
word hell had originally the same meaning, being derived from 
the Saxon root helan, to cover. The word Hades, as used by 
the Greeks, by the Jews, and by the early Christian writers, 
embraced the whole realm of the departed spirits. Scripture 
clearly intimates that the disembodied spirit neither sleeps, nor 



60 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



enters at death into its final state, but enters into an intermediate 
state to which this name of Hades is given. In that state the 
souls of the righteous are in bliss, enjoying the presence of 
Christ ; and yet not, as is clear from Scripture, enjoying the 
full consummation of bliss which awaits them at the resurrec- 
tion ; and in that state the souls of the wicked are in misery, 
and yet not in the full misery of yeewa, into which they shall be 
cast, after the sentence of judgment which shall be pronounced 
on them in the last great day. 

Into this realm of departed spirits, then, we understand that 
Christ went, when we say in our Creed that He descended 
into hell. Which division of this realm He visited, is clear from 
His own words on the Cross to the penitent thief, " To-day 
shalt thou be with me in paradise." It was the happy division 
of Hades, Abraham's bosom, where Lazarus is comforted — 
paradise, where the souls of the righteous are in joy and felicity ; 
it was this part of the realm of departed spirits that the Spirit 
of Christ visited, in the interval between His death and 
resurrection. 

It may be asked, why was it thought necessary to assert this 
fact, concerning Christ's descent into Hades^ in the Creed ? It 
was inserted, I believe, as a protest against the heresy of the 
Arians and Apollinarians, who denied the existence in Christ 
of a natural human soul. The true doctrine of our Lord's 
humanity, viz., that " He was perfect man, of a reasonable soul 
and human flesh subsistmg," was most strongly maintained by 
asserting the article of His descent into Hades. For whereas 
His body was laid in the grave, and His soul went to Hades, 
He must have had both body and soul. 

Another, and a much more difficult question arises — What 
was the object of our Lord's descent into Hades ? Had He any 
other object in view, than that which has been already alluded 
to ? — the fulfilment of the conditions of death proper to our 
human nature. * There is a passage of Scripture which I 
believe intimates that He had ; that passage you will find in 
1 Pet. iii. 18 — 20 : " For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, 
the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being 
put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit : by which 



Christ's death. 



6] 



also He went and preached unto the spirits in prison ; which 
sometime were disobedient, when once the long-suffering of 
God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, 
wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water." 

There is an admirable sermon of Bishop Horsley's on this 
text, from which I will read you a few extracts, which will go 
to prove from this text that one object of Christ's descent into 
Hades, was that He might proclaim to the spirits that were 
there in safe keeping the glad tidings of His redemption. In 
order that you may understand the Bishop's comment on the 
text, it is necessary for me first to read you his critical remarks 
on it. 

" To any who will consider the original with critical accu- 
racy, it will be obvious, from the perfect antithesis of the two 
clauses concerning flesh and spirit, that if the word ( spirit ' de- 
note the active cause by which Christ was restored to life, which 
must be supposed by them who understand the word of the 
Holy Ghost, the word s flesh 5 must equally denote the active 
cause by which He was put to death ; which therefore must 
have been the flesh of His own body ; an interpretation too 
manifestly absurd to be admitted. But if the word tf flesh ' 
denote, as it most evidently does, the part in which death took 
effect upon Him, ( spirit ' must denote the part in which life 
was preserved in Him, i.e., His own soul ; and the word 
6 quickened ' is often applied to signify, not the resuscitation of 
life extinguished, but the preservation and continuance of life 
subsisting. The exact rendering, therefore, of the Apostle's 
words would be — e Being put to death in the flesh, but quick 
in the spirit;' i.e., surviving in His soul the stroke of death 
which His body had sustained ; ' by which,' or rather ' in 
which,' that is, in which surviving soul, 6 He went and 
preached to the souls of men in prison, or in safe keeping.' " 

The Bishop's comment on the passage thus rendered is as 
follows : — 

" The souls in custody, to whom our Saviour went in His 
disembodied spirit and preached, were those ( which sometime 
were disobedient.' The expression, 'sometime were,' or f one 
while had been disobedient,' implies that they were recovered 



62 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



however from that disobedienee, and, before their death, had 
been brought to repentance and faith in the Redeemer to come. 
To such souls Christ went and preached. But what did He 
preach to departed souls, and what could be the end of His 
preaching ? Certainly He preached neither repentance nor 
faith ; for the preaching of either comes too late to the departed 
soul. These souls had believed and repented, or they had not 
been in that part of Hades, which the soul of the Redeemer 
visited. Nor was the end of His preaching any liberation of 
them from we know not what purgatorial pains, of which 
Scripture gives not the slightest information. But if He went 
to proclaim to them (and to proclaim or publish is the true 
sense of the words i( to preach") the glad tidings that He had 
actually offered the sacrifice of their redemption, and was about 
to appear before the Father as their Intercessor, in the merit of 
His own blood, this was a preaching fit to be addressed to 
departed souls, and would give animation and assurance to 
their hope of the consummation in due season of their bliss : 
and this it may be presumed was the end of His preaching. 
But the great difficulty in the description of the souls to whom 
this preaching for this purpose was addressed is this, that they 
were the souls of some of the antediluvian race. Not that it at 
all startles me to find antediluvian souls in safe keeping for final 
salvation : on the contrary, I should find it very difficult to 
believe, (unless I were to read it somewhere in the Bible,) that 
of the millions that perished in the general deluge, all died 
hardened in impenitence and unbelief, insomuch that not one 
of that race could be an object of future mercy, besides the 
eight persons who were miraculously saved in the ark, for the 
purpose of re-peopling the depopulated earth. Nothing in the 
general plan of God's dealings with mankind, as revealed in 
Scripture, makes it necessary to suppose, that, of the antedilu- 
vian race who might repent on Noah's preaching, more would 
be saved from the temporal judgment than the purpose of a 
gradual re-population of the world demanded ; or to suppose on 
the other hand, that all who perished in the flood are to perish 
everlastingly in the lake of fire. But the great difficulty, of 
which perhaps I may be unable to give any adequate solution, 



Christ's death. 



63 



is this : — For what reason should the proclamation of the finish- 
ing of the great work of redemption be addressed exclusively 
to the souls of these antediluvian penitents ? were not the souls 
of penitents of later ages equally interested in the joyful 
tidings ? To this I can only answer, that I think I have 
observed, in some parts of Scripture, an anxiety, if the ex- 
pression may be allowed, of the sacred writers to convey 
distinct intimations that the antediluvian race is not unin- 
terested in the redemption and the final retribution. It is for 
this purpose, as I conceive, that in the descriptions of the 
general resurrection, in the visions of the Apocalypse, it is 
mentioned with a particular emphasis, that the i sea gave up 
the dead which were in it, 5 which I cannot be content to under- 
stand of the few persons, (few in comparison of the total of 
mankind,) lost at different times by shipwreck — a poor cir- 
cumstance to find a place in the midst of the magnificent images 
which surround it ! — but of the myriads that perished in the 
general deluge, and found their tomb in the waters of that 
raging ocean. It may be conceived that the souls of those who 
died in that dreadful visitation, might from that circumstance 
have peculiar apprehensions of themselves as the marked 
victims of Divine vengeance, and might peculiarly need the 
consolation which the preaching of our Lord in Hades afforded 
to these prisoners of hope. However that may be, thither, the 
Apostle says, Christ went and preached." 

The passage which Bishop Horsley has thus elucidated is 
confessedly a difficult one ; his elucidation, however, should, I 
think, commend itself to the candid and reverent student of 
holy Scripture, and lead us to acknowledge that one object 
of Christ's descent into Hades was the proclamation of the 
glad tidings of His redemption to the spirits, especially of the 
antediluvian penitents, who were in the Lord's safe keeping in 
Paradise. 

Such, then, were the results of Christ's crucifixion. He truly 
and really died ; His body was buried in the grave ; and His 
soul went to the place of departed spirits. 

As to time, manner, and results, then, we have now seen the 
historical certainty of Christ's death. Let us be thankful for 



64 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



the historical certainty that gathers round that momentous fact. 
I say momentous fact, on account of its doctrinal significance. 

II. And this leads me to the second subject to which I would 
draw your attention this evening — the Doctrinal significance 
of Christ's death. 

Why did Christ suffer on the cross ? Why did He give 
Himself up to such a death of agony and shame ? Was it 
merely that He might give us a wonderful exhibition of God's 
love ? or merely that He might teach us that the Son of God 
feels for us in our misery ? Was Christ's death merely the 
sacrifice of self in the representative man ? was it merely (i the 
greatest moral act ever done in the world?" was it nothing 
more than this, as a cold and heartless rationalism would have 
us believe ? 

What saitli the Scripture ? What is the teaching of types 
and prophecies in the Old Testament — of Christ Himself and 
His holy Apostles in the New ? With one voice they proclaim 
that " Christ died for our sins that His death was 
sacrificial, vicarious, expiatory. Let us glance for a moment 
at this fourfold testimony to the doctrinal significance of 
Christ's death. 

1. Types. — Old Testament types teach in the plainest pos- 
sible manner, that it is " the blood that maketh an atonement 
for the soul." Throughout the antediluvian, the patriarchal, 
and the Jewish dispensations, sacrifices were offered — and 
offered clearly by Divine appointment ; sacrifices which pro- 
claimed the solemn fact, that " without shedding of blood 
there is no remission." What did all these sacrifices point 
to, if not to the great sacrifice of Calvary ? But take from 
Christ's death its sacrificial character, and then you have, 
as has been justly observed, " types without an antitype ; 
shadows with no substance following ; a promise without a 
performance ; an elaborate and enormous machinery for effect- 
ing nothing. That which has hitherto ennobled those sacrifices 
in our eyes, is the truth which they foreshadowed. But 
let them have foreshadowed nothing of the kind, and they fall 
down at once to a level with the heathen sacrifices ; nay, not 
merely to a level with them, as those have been hitherto regarded 



Christ's death. 



65 



by us, but they drag down to a far lower depth the heathen 
sacrifices and themselves together. Hitherto the heathen sacri- 
fices, terrible distortions of the true as they so often were, yet 
were not without a certain terrible grandeur of their own. A 
ray of the glory of Calvary fell upon them, and dark as they 
remained, yet did not leave them all dark. They were blind 
feelings after the cross of Christ, passionate outcries for it ; 
they were lies indeed, but lies which cried after the truth. But 
take from Christ's cross its character of altar, and from His 
death its character of a sacrifice, and at once the Levitical 
sacrifices no longer remain shadows of the true, and the heathen 
sacrifices cease to be remote resemblances of the same." 

2. But pass from types to prophecies. The very first pro- 
phecy speaks of the bruising of the heel of the promised seed : 
while subsequent ones in the Messianic Psalms, in Isaiah, and 
Daniel and Zechariah, unfold with the fulness of almost historic 
detail the circumstances of Messiah's sufferings, and the reason, 
the doctrinal significance of those sufferings. The words of the 
fifty-third chapter of Isaiah are familiar to you all ; nevertheless, 
let me quote a verse or two from -that wonderful prediction of 
Messiah's sufferings. Hear the Evangelical prophet proclaim 
the import of those mysterious sufferings : " He was wounded 
for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities : the 
chastisement of our peace was upon Him ; and with His stripes 
we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray ) we have 
turned every one to his own way ; and the Lord hath laid on 
Him the iniquity of us all. He was taken from prison and from 
judgment: and who shall declare His generation ? for He was 
cut off out of the land of the living : for the transgression of 
my people was He stricken." (Isaiah liii. 5, 6, 8.) 

3. From the Old Testament pass to the New. And first 
inquire of Christ Himself, what is the doctrinal significance 
of His own death? There have not been wanting men bold 
enough to say that there is not a trace of the doctrine of the 
atonement in the Gospels. It is quite true that it does not 
occupy the prominent place it does afterwards in the Apos- 
tolical Epistles, and for a very sufficient reason : the open and 
constant avowal by our Lord of His death, and of its import, 

F 



66 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



would have been an interference with the free agency of 
the instruments who were to bring about that death, Christ, 
however, when surrounded by His disciples, did on several 
occasions refer to His death, and to its purport. Look, for 
example, at Matt. xx. 28 : " The Son of Man came not to be 
ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom 
for many." The word "ransom" distinctly points to the 
vicarious nature of Christ's death. The most remarkable testi- 
mony, however, to the sacrificial nature of His death, was given 
by our Lord on the very night before He was crucified, when 
He took bread, and blessed it, and brake it, and gave it to His 
disciples, saying, " This is My body, tvhich is given for you /" 
and when He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to 
them, saying, " Drink ye all of it, for this is My blood of the 
New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of 
sins." The Lord's Supper, then, was instituted by Christ to be 
a perpetual memorial of His precious death, a perpetual memo- 
rial, that in that death Christ gave His body for us, and shed 
His blood for the remission of our sins. 

4, Once more, you have the teaching of Christ's Apostles. 
In the Apostolical Epistles, you have every variety of expression 
used to set forth to us the doctrinal significance of Christ's 
death. In our text, St. Paul says, " Christ died for our sins." 
In Galatians iiL 13, he says, " Christ hath redeemed us from 
the curse 6f the law, being made a curse for us : for it is 
written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." In 
Heb. ix. 26, he says, " Now once in the end of the world 
hath He appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself." 
In St. Peter we read of Christ, " Who His own self bare our sins 
in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should 
live unto righteousness : by whose stripes ye were healed." 
(1 Peter ii. 24.) In St, John we read, that Christ is "the 
propitiation for our sins," and that " His blood cleanseth us 
from all sin." And once more, in the last book of the sacred 
Canon it is a significant fact, that Christ is continually called 
by the title of " the Lamb," the name which of all other names 
points to His sacrificial death. The constant use of this title 
in a book which unfolds the future triumphs and eternal glory 



cueist's death. 



07 



of Christ and His Church, shows us that the foundation of all 
those triumphs and of all that glory was laid on Calvary, where 
as the victim Lamb, Christ died for our sins. 

The length to which this sermon has extended, allows only 
of two very brief practical remarks in conclusion. Has Jesus 
Christ, God's only Son our Lord, died for our sins ? Then verily 
sin, the transgression of God's law, is no trivial thing. Are any 
of you disposed to make light of sin, of any sin ? Then look 
to Calvary. Behold in the cross the measure of sin. Learn 
there how God hates sin. 

But again, Has Christ died for our sins ? Then may our 
sins be forgiven. How ? " Behold the Lamb of God, which 
taketh away the sins of the world." " To Him give all the 
prophets witness, that through His name, whosoever believeth 
in Him, shall receive remission of sins." 

" Not all the blood of beasts, 

On Jewish altars slain, 
Could give the guilty conscience peace, 
Or wash away the stain. 

But Christ, the Heavenly Lamb, 
Takes all our sins away ; 
A sacrifice of nobler name, 

And richer blood than they. 

My faith would lay her hand 
On that dear Head of Thine, 
While like a penitent I stand, 
And there confess my sin. 

My soul looks back to see 
The burdens Thou didst bear, 
When hanging on the accursed tree, 
And knows her guilt was there. 

Believing, we rejoice, 
To see the curse remove, 
We bless the Lamb with cheerful voice, 
And sing His bleeding love." 



F 2 



SERMON VII. 



CHRIST'S RESURRECTION. 

" Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly ; not to ail 
the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of God." — Acts x. 40, 41. 

The Resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ, is the subject for our consideration to-night. 

" The third day Christ rose again from the dead/' such are 
the words in which this subject is embodied in our Creed. It 
is a subject second in importance to none, in the whole range 
of those historic facts, which form the basis of the Christian 
faith ; for how momentous are the issues as regards Christ, 
and as regards the whole Church of Christ, which gather round 
this central fact. Is Christ's work indeed accepted of the 
Father ? Can Christ really and indeed save us from our sins ? 
These and other such-like questions of deepest moment depend 
for their answer on the proof of this central fact, the resur- 
rection of Christ. 

How earnestly therefore should we attend to the proof 
which God has vouchsafed to give us, of the resurrection of His 
Son ; how thankful we should be that it is proof of a kind to put 
the fact of that resurrection beyond all possibility of doubt; so 
that without fear of contradiction we may boldly say, that the 
fact of Christ's resurrection is established with greater certainty 
by the evidence God has given us, than any other fact in the 
whole compass of history, sacred or profane. 

I referred this morning to the great loss which the whole 
Church of Christ has sustained during the past week. The 
cause of Israel has lost one of its first and ablest advocates. 
The cause of God's truth, as assailed by the rationalism of these 



Christ's resurrection. 



69 



last days, has lost one of its most learned and lucid defenders ; 
and the cause of our Protestant Christianity has lost one of the 
most uncompromising and bold exponents of its principles. 
Verily the whole Church of Christ, and especially the Church 
of these realms, has cause in these clays to mourn over the loss 
of such a man as Dr. M'Caul. But our great loss, let us re- 
member, is his incalculable gain ; he has passed into the rest 
and the joy of his Lord. From active and laborious service in 
the Church militant, he has been called to join the ranks of the 
waiting, the peaceful Church triumphant, I say the waiting 
Church triumphant ; for though for the faithful departed the 
conflict is over, the victory won, and the blessedness of glory 
begun, yet for them a deeper and fuller blessedness is in store 
than even that which they now enjoy, a blessedness on which 
the whole Church of Christ shall enter on the glorious morning 
of the resurrection. 

And that resurrection of the just is bound up with the fact 
to which your attention is invited this evening— the resurrection 
of Christ. For thus saith an inspired Apostle : f( Now is 
Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of 
them that slept." And hence another momentous issue, that 
depends on the resurrection of Jesus — with His resurrection is 
bound up that of all His people. 

Before inviting your attention to the proof on which rests 
this great fact of the Christian faith, let me observe that 
the resurrection of Christ was a matter foretold in the Old 
Testament Scriptures, and foretold by our Lord Himself. 

It was foretold in the Old Testament Scriptures. 

First look at Psalm ii. 7, where the Messiah thus speaks of 
Himself : " I will declare the decree : the Lord hath said unto 
Me, Thou art My Son ; this day have I begotten Thee." And 
compare with this the inspired comment of St. Paul, in Acts 
xiii. 32, 33 : e( And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that 
the promise which was made unto our fathers, God hath 
fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that He hath raised 
up Jesus again ; as it is also written in the second Psalm, Thou 
art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee." This inspired 
comment warrants us in understanding the prediction in the 



70 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



second Psalm, as receiving a fulfilment in the resurrection of 
Christ, In rising from the dead, Christ began to live, as it 
were, another life, so that in reference to the resurrection of 
His Son, whom He had begotten from everlasting, the Father 
could say, " this day have I begotten Thee." 

Look at another and clearer prediction of Christ's resurrec- 
tion in the Old Testament. Turn to Psalm xvi. 9, 10 : " My 
heart is glad, and My glory rejoiceth : My flesh also shall rest 
in hope. For Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell ; neither 
wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption." You 
will remember St. Peter's inspired comment on this prediction, 
which I read you last Sunday evening from Acts ii. You will 
remember that he distinctly told the Jews that David in this 
passage " spake of the resurrection of Christ, that His soul was 
not left in hell, neither His flesh did see corruption." (Acts ii. 
31.) St. Paul, too, in his sermon at Antioch, quotes this passage 
from the sixteenth Psalm, and reasons upon it as his brother 
Apostle had done before : " Wherefore he saith also in another 
Psalm, Thou shalt not suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption. 
For David, after he had served his own generation by the will 
of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw cor- 
ruption: but He, whom God raised again, saw no corruption." 
(Acts xiii. 35—37.) 

Again, the resurrection of Christ was frequently foretold by our 
Lord Himself. When asked by the Jews for a sign, He gave 
them the sign of His resurrection. Look at our Lord's words, 
and St. John's comment on them, in John ii. 18 — 22 : u Then 
answered the Jews and said unto Him, What sign shewest 
Thou unto us, seeing that Thou doest these things ? Jesus 
answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three 
days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six 
years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in 
three days ? But He spake of the temple of His body. When 
therefore He was risen from the dead, His disciples remembered 
that He had said this unto them ; and they believed the 
Scripture, and the word which Jesus had said." On other 
occasions, when asked by the Pharisees for a sign, while 
refusing to give them a sign of the kind they asked, He twice 



Christ's resurrection. 



71 



gave them the sign of the prophet Jonah — the sign of His 
resurrection. 

And further, to His own disciples He frequently and dis- 
tinctly foretold His resurrection on the third day. Look, for 
example, at Mark viii. 31 : i( And He began to teach them, that 
the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the 
elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and 
after three days rise again." And again in Mark ix. 31, 32 : 
"He taught His disciples, and said unto them, The Son of Man 
is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill Him ; 
and after that He is killed, He shall rise the third day. But 
they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask Him." 
Observe, the disciples understood not this saying of Christ 
about His rising from the dead, and this accounts for their 
not expecting the resurrection of their Lord. 

So far, then, we have seen that Christ's resurrection was 
a fact predicted — predicted in the Old Testament Scriptures, 
and predicted by our Lord Himself. Now let us approach the 
proof of this great central fact of our holy faith. You may 
divide that proof into direct and indirect proof. 

I. The direct proof, is that furnished by the testimony of 
eye-witnesses — " witnesses chosen before of God," who saw 
Christ after He rose from the dead. That testimony you will find 
given at length in the four Gospels, and the first chapter of the 
Acts of the Apostles, and summed up by St. Paul, in 1 Cor. 
xv. 3 — 8 : ee For I delivered unto you first of all that which I 
also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the 
Scriptures ; and that He was buried, and that He rose again 
the third day according to the Scriptures : and that He was 
seen of Cephas, then of the twelve : after that, He was seen of 
above five hundred brethren at once ; of whom the greater 
part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After 
that, He was seen of James ; then of all the apostles. And last 
of all He was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time." 

In estimating the value of this direct proof of Christ's 
resurrection, we must take into account three things respecting 
the chosen witnesses — their number, their information, and 
their character. 



72 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



1. Their number. — Taking no count of the different com- 
panies of ministering women, and of the five hundred brethren 
in Galilee, to whom our Lord appeared after He rose from the 
dead, if we reckon only the eleven apostles, we have a number 
far greater than has ever been demanded by a court of justice, 
to establish a fact in the most intricate and weighty causes. 

2. Then as regards the information of these chosen witnesses. 
Who were these men, who boldly proclaimed the fact, to 
enemies as well as friends, that Christ had risen from the dead ? 
They were those, (mark it well,) who personally knew Christ, 
who had been His chosen companions throughout His triennial 
ministry. These men saw with their own eyes their risen 
Master ; and heard with their own ears His well-known voice. 
Thus observe, this testimony, this information comes to us at 
first hand. We cannot sufficiently over-estimate the import- 
ance of this. There are very few facts that we can get at 
otherwise than at third, fourth, or fifth hand ; and yet we 
receive them as veritable facts, without any first, or even 
second hand testimony, and that though very much may 
depend on our reception of those facts. The fact of Christ's 
resurrection, however, is testified to us, not at second or third 
hand, but at first hand ; it is testified to us by men who lived 
at the time, and in the country where it took place ; it is 
testified by men who had been for a considerable time the most 
intimate friends of Christ ; and what do these men testify who 
thus lived at the time and in the place where Christ rose from 
the dead, and who had been His chosen companions ? They 
testify that their own eyes saw, that their own hands handled 
the Lord of Life, after that He rose from the dead. So much 
as regards the information of the chosen witnesses. 

S. And now as regards their character — Were they men 
likely to deceive us ? On the contrary, is there not everything 
in their character to assure us that they would state the truth, 
and nothing but the truth ? Look at their transparent honesty, 
as seen in the narratives of Christ's life, which two out of the 
eleven (and indeed three, for St. Mark's Gospel was written 
under the direction of St. Peter) have given us. There is no 
concealment of their own failings and mistakes, of their dulness 



Christ's resurrection. 



73 



of comprehension and unbelief : there is an honest recital of 
all — nor is this all, they fearlessly relate the different occur- 
rences in Christ's life from their own point of view, without any 
forcecl or artificial harmony. 

Then mark their eminent simplicity and straighlfomoardness 
of character. They were not learned, polished men, trained in 
the subtleties of the schools — they were most of them simple, 
straightforward fishermen — sailors whose only training had been 
amid the winds and storms of the lake of Galilee. Whatever 
may be the disadvantages of a sea-faring life, it is proverbially 
one calculated to nurture simplicity and straightforwardness of 
character. 

Men of such a stamp of character would not be disposed, even 
if they were capable, of telling anything but the simple down- 
right truth. And in connexion with this observe, these witnesses 
had everything to lose and nothing to gain by their asserting 
the fact of Christ's resurrection. 

They maintained their united testimony, though scourgings, 
and bonds, and imprisonment, and death, awaited them for so 
doing — the veracity of the witnesses of Christ's resurrection was 
thus put to the severest possible test. 

Thus, then, when we regard together the number, the infor- 
mation, and the character of the chosen witnesses, the direct 
proof of Christ's resurrection is of the most convincing nature 
that we can well conceive. If ever human testimony amounted 
to the certainty of positive demonstration, it is in this instance 
of Christ's resurrection. 

One plausible objection, however, has been raised to this 
testimony, and that objection is drawn from the fact stated in 
my text, that Christ was shown after His resurrection, " Not to 
all the people, but to witnesses chosen before of God." It is 
argued that this selection of witnesses is no strengthening of 
the testimony to Christ's resurrection. 

Now, I wdsh to lead you to the very opposite conclusion. I 
wish to show you first that this selection of witnesses strengthens 
instead of weakens the testimony we have to the great fact of 
Christ's resurrection; and further, I wish to show you that 
there was an eminent fitness that the risen Lord after His 



74 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



resurrection should be shown only to witnesses chosen before 
of God. 

It is quite evident, that to have seen Christ ever so often after 
His resurrection, would have qualified no one to be a witness of 
the fact, who had not such a previous knowledge of His person, 
as might enable him to perceive and attest its identity. Now in 
the innumerable multitude that was assembled to witness the 
tragic scene on Calvary, how many may be supposed to have 
had such a view of the Divine Sufferer, as might make them 
acquainted with His person ? 

" The far greater part," says Bishop Horsley, " not only saw 
Him at a distance, but, in the tumult which would attend the 
dismal spectacle, they would never get a steady view ; they 
would now and then catch a momentary glimpse of a part only 
of His person, which they would lose again before any distinct 
impression could be made. Those who saw the whole transac- 
tion from the most advantageous stations, would see the cheeks 
pale, the features convulsed, the whole body distorted with the 
torture of the punishment. Nor would the spectators be suffi- 
ciently composed, agitated as they all would be, some with horror 
of the scene, some with pity of His sufferings, some with joy for 
the success of their infernal machinations: under one or another 
of these emotions, none would be sufficiently composed to 
observe and remark the peculiarities of His person. Insomuch, 
that of those who saw Him now for the first time, few, perhaps, 
had He ever been seen by them again, would have known Him 
from either of the malefactors who were made the companions 
of His agonies." 

And if it be thought that after His three years' ministry Christ's 
person must have been generally well known amongst the Jews ; 
let it be considered on the other hand, that during the whole 
period of that ministry Christ was constantly travelling from 
place to place, that the multitudes that followed Him whenever 
He appeared in public, were for the most part numerous, 
amounting often to thousands, and it will seem improbable that 
the number of those could be great who had obtained a distinct 
sight of Christ oftener than once in the whole course of His 
triennial ministry. Hence it would follow as highly probable, 



Christ's resurrection. 



7,5 



that very few besides His constant followers knew Him well 
enough to identify His person. They who had not this distinct 
knowledge of Christ's person, however frequent the public 
appearances had been after His resurrection, were not qualified 
to be witnesses of the fact even to themselves, and still less, 
therefore, to others. 

" And the few," as the Bishop observes from whom I have 
already quoted, " who might be the best acquainted with His 
person, still were not qualified to be witnesses of His resurrec- 
tion to the world, unless their knowledge of Christ's person was 
itself a fact of public notoriety. For to establish the credit of a 
witness, it is not sufficient that he be really competent to judge 
for himself of the reality of the fact which he takes it upon 
himself to attest, but his competency in the matter must be a 
thing generally known and understood. Now this was the case 
with the Apostles. It is a notorious fact, that they could not be 
incompetent in the knowledge of their Master's person presented 
to their senses. But the same thing, although it might have 
been equally true, could not be equally manifest of any who 
had pretended to join in their attestation, from a knowledge of 
His person acquired in accidental interviews, of which the 
reality was known only to themselves. Their testimony would 
rather have discredited the cause than heightened the evidence; 
as in all cases the depositions of witnesses suspected of incom- 
petency, have no effect but to create a prejudice against the 
fact which they assert, and to diminish the force of better testi- 
mony, which, left to itself, would have produced conviction." 

Thus it appears that the evidence which we actually have of 
Christ's resurrection, in the testimony of the chosen witnesses, is 
indeed the greatest of which the fact is capable. Public appear- 
ances could have added nothing to the testimony of these witnesses; 
on the contrary, by destroying the precision and definiteness of 
their testimony, they would rather have weakened the evidence 
of the fact. So that the selection of witnesses, and of such wit- 
nesses as the Apostles, who so thoroughly knew their Lord, and 
were acknowledged so to have known Him, strengthens the 
evidence which we have of our Lord's resurrection. 

But it may be asked, Why did not Christ appear to some of 



76 



THE APOSTLES 5 CREED. 



His enemies, some of whom must have known Him well enough — 
Pontius Pilate, for example ? There was an eminent fitness, a 
moral propriety, in this. A word on this. 

The history of the forty days shows that a marvellous change 
had passed over Christ after His resurrection. The manner of 
His resurrection evidences this change, for it is evident that 
Christ left the sepulchre before the stone had been rolled away 
from the door. His appearances after His resurrection are 
another evidence of this change. They were for the most part 
unforeseen, and sudden : nor less suddenly did He disappear. 
His manner of life after His resurrection is another evidence of 
the change. 

" He was repeatedly seen," to quote again from Bishop 
Horsley, " by the disciples after His resurrection ; and so seen 
as to give them many infallible proofs that He was the very 
Jesus who had suffered on the cross. But He lived not with them 
in familiar habits. His time, from the forty days preceding His 
ascension, was not spent in their society. They knew not His 
goings out and comings in. Where He lodged on the evening 
of His resurrection, after His visit to the Apostles, we read not ; 
nor were the Apostles better informed than we. To Thomas, 
who was absent when our Lord appeared, the report of the 
resurrection was in these words : e We have seen the Lord.' 
That was all they had to say : they had seen Him, and He was 
gone. They pretend not to direct Thomas to any place where 
he might find Him, and enjoy the same sight. None of them 
could now say to Thomas, as Nathaniel once said to Philip, 
' Come and see. 5 On the journey from Jerusalem to Galilee, 
He was not their companion — He went before them. How He 
went we are not informed. The way is not described ; the 
places are not mentioned through which He passed; their 
names are not recorded who accompanied Him on the road, or 
who entertained Him. The disciples were commanded to repair 
to Galilee. They were not told to seek Him in Capernaum, His 
former residence, or to enquire for Him at His mother's house. 
They were to assemble on a certain hill. Thither they repaired ; 
they met Him there ; and there they worshipped Him. The 
place of His abode for any single night of all the forty days is 



cueist's resurrection. 



77 



nowhere mentioned ; nor, from the most diligent examination of 
the story, is any place of His abode on earth to be assigned, The 
conclusion seems to be, that on earth He had no longer any 
local residence, His body requiring neither food for its subsis- 
tence, nor a lodging for its shelter and repose. He was become 
the inhabitant of another region, from which He came occasion- 
ally to converse with His disciples. His visible ascension at the 
expiration of the forty days, being not the necessary means of 
His removal, but a token to the disciples that this was His last 
visit ; an evidence to them that the heavens had now received 
Him, and that He was to be seen no more on earth with the 
corporeal eye, till the restitution of all things." 

Now what does all this go to prove ? Does it not show that as 
before Christ's passion the form of a servant predominated in 
Christ's appearance, so after His resurrection the form of God 
was conspicuous. The atonement once made, Christ began to 
re-assume His glory. Would you now ask — why was Jesus 
not made visible after His resurrection to His enemies ? Would 
you not rather stand aghast at the impiety of the question ? 
How could He appear to them, except in the terrors of His 
judgment ? and the day for that had not yet arrived. 

In mercy, therefore, Christ appeared after His resurrection to 
none but His own believing people. In mercy to His enemies, 
(thus granted a further space for repentance,) God showed the 
risen Saviour visibly " not to all the people, but to witnesses 
chosen before of God." 

II. From the direct proof of Christ's resurrection let us turn 
to the indirect, the collateral evidence of the fact. 

I do not refer to the testimony of the Eoman guard, or the 
stupid lie of the chief priests, which was a tacit admission of the 
fact of the resurrection, or to the non-production of Christ's 
body — I refer to evidence of a more indirect, and therefore a 
more remarkable character. 

1. First look at the enemies of Christ before and after the 
resurrection. How are we to account for the manifest change 
of position in relation to Christ, of the two great parties in the 
Jewish nation, except on the ground that the Eesurrection did 
actually take place ? 



78 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



Who were Christ's most active enemies during His ministry ? 
The Pharisees — whereas, after the close of that ministry, the 
Pharisees often sided with the Apostles, and many of them, as 
we learn from the Acts, actually became Christians. But who 
were the most active enemies of Christ and His Apostles, after 
the close of Christ's personal ministry ? The Sadducees. Read 
the earlier chapters of the Acts, and you convince yourselves of 
this fact at once. During Christ's ministry they very seldom 
came into collision with our Lord ; they treated Him probably 
with supreme indifference, as a wild enthusiast ; but after the 
close of that ministry, they appear at once as the most active 
and determined opponents of the Apostles. Whence this 
change ? What cause can be assigned, which will adequately ac- 
count for so marked a result as regards the Pharisees on the one 
hand, and the Sadducees on the other ? What but the resurrection 
of Christ, which would lead the once hostile Pharisees to regard 
very differently the claims of Jesus of Nazareth, and would of 
course rouse all the slumbering hatred of the once indifferent 
Sadducees, who said that there was no resurrection. 

2. Look at the change in the general multitude of the Jews. 
When Christ taught in person, multitudes sought Him, but very 
few believed in Him. Now turn to the Acts, and mark the 
change. Look at chap. ii. 41 : "Then they that gladly received 
his word were baptized : and the same day there were added 
unto them about three thousand souls." And look at chap. iv. 
4: "Howbeit many of them which heard the word believed; 
and the number of the men was about five thousand." Whence 
this marked change ? do not the facts show that there must 
have been some corresponding change in the position of Jesus ? 
— some great crisis in His history, which presented Him before 
the public eye in a light altogether different. What was that 
change ? His death ? Nay, but what followed it — His resur- 
rection. This is the fact which alone accounts for the change. 

S. Once more, look at the change in the friends of Christ. 
In the Gospels you find them ignorant and timid; in the Acts 
you find them full of wisdom and boldness. What had pro- 
duced this change, but the uncontroverted 3 unchallenged fact of 
Christ's resurrection ? True, they had been baptized with the 



Christ's resurrection. 



79 



Holy Ghost; but had Christ not risen, they would have re- 
mained downcast, and desponding, and sad, for all the rest of 
their lives. But their Lord and ours had risen indeed, and 
therefore they were full of joy and holy courage. In the teeth 
of the commands of the Jewish Sanhedrim, in spite of the op- 
position of rulers, and notwithstanding the cruel persecution to 
which they were exposed, the Apostles proclaimed in Jerusalem, 
and proclaimed unchallenged, the glorious fact that Christ had 
risen the third day from the dead — and when in the course of 
time they went forth from Jerusalem to found the Church of 
Christ in other lands, they preached everywhere a risen Saviour 
— and this, their uniform testimony, they sealed at the last 
with their blood. 

Do you ask then, now, Is Christ's work on the cross accepted 
of the Father ?— behold in the resurrection of Christ from the 
dead, the proof that that work is accepted of the Father. 

Do you ask, Is Christ able to save us from our sins ? — 
behold, I say again, in the resurrection of Christ from the dead, 
the proof that Christ is able to save us from our sins. 

Do you ask once more, Shall Christ's people rise to ever- 
lasting life ? shall those who have fallen asleep in Jesus rise 
again in a glorious and incorruptible body ? I answer again — 
behold in the resurrection of Christ the pledge of the resur- 
rection to life of His people. As surely as "Christ, the first- 
fruits," has been raised from the dead to die no more, so 
surely shall they that are Christ's, rise " at His coming " to 
everlasting life and glory. 

" They that are Christ's" Are you His ? Can you say, 
" Christ is mine, and I am His ! " Spirit of the living God, 
apply these words with power to every heart. 



SERMON VIII. 



CHRIST'S EXALTATION. 

"Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and 
authorities and powers being made subject unto Him." — 1 Peter III. 22. 

We have followed our blessed Lord from the cradle of Beth- 
lehem to the cross of Calvary, and from the cross of Calvary 
to the open grave in the garden ; and now our faith invites 
us to follow Him from that despoiled grave to the oft-fre- 
quented Mount Olivet, and from thence to the Father's right 
hand above. Jesus Christ, God's only Son our Lord, "is 
gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels 
and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him." 

Such is the teaching of Holy Writ, and in harmony with it 
is the teaching of the Apostle's Creed : for in that Creed we 
confess, that Christ "ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the 
right hand of God, the Father Almighty." In this article of 
our Creed, to which I invite your attention this evening, there 
are, you observe, two parts ; one relating to a fact past, the 
other relating to a fact present. "Christ ascended into 
heaven," that is past ; "Christ sitteth at the right hand of God, 
the Father Almighty," this is present. 

Christ's ascension, and Christ's session at the right hand 
of the Father, then, are the two subjects which are brought 
before us to-night. Viewed in their necessary connection with 
each other, they form but two divisions of one great subject, 
viz., Christ's Exaltation. 

I. First, then, let us consider the fact past, which is com- 
memorated in this article of our Creed — Christ's ascension into 
heaven. You will have observed that in all my Sermons on 



Christ's exaltation. 



81 



the second part of the Apostle's Creed, (that which has re- 
ference to God the Son,) I have referred you to the predic- 
tions in the Old Testament Scriptures, of the facts concerning 
the Messiah, which the Creed enunciates. I have done so 
designedly ; first, on account of the special instruction such a 
way of dealing with the historic facts of Christianity affords 
to the many Christian Israelites who worship with us in this 
sanctuary ; and secondly, because it is of the highest moment in 
these days to show all Christians, whether Jews or Gentiles, 
that the Old and New Testament Scriptures are inseparably 
bound together as the revelation of the same God, as the 
unfolding under the inspiration of the one Spirit, of the same 
grand system of truth. The Old and New Testament Scrip- 
tures stand or fall together. He who assails the Old Testament 
assails the New. He who inpugns the veracity of Moses and the 
Prophets, is on the road to deny the Divine mission of Christ. 

For these reasons, then, I have uniformly referred you to Old 
Testament predictions, and foreshadowings of New Testament 
facts. I shall adopt the same course this evening, as regards 
both divisions of our subject. 

In considering the first division of our subject, Christ's ascen- 
sion into heaven, I shall invite you to dwell on the fact — first, 
as alluded to or predicted in the Old Testament ; next, as 
alluded to or predicted" by Christ ; and then, as witnessed by 
His Apostles on Mount Olivet. 

1. First, then, let us refer to the allusions to or predictions 
of the fact of Christ's ascension in the Old Testament. 

Look first at Psalm xxiv. In the third verse, the question is 
asked, " Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord ? or who 
shall stand in His holy place?" The answer is, "He that hath 
clean hands, and a pure heart ; who hath not lifted up His soul 
unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully." And who, think you, is 
this a description of? Who can it refer to, in all its depth and 
breadth, but Him of whom we read that "He did no sin, neither 
was guile found in His mouth ?" He, then, " the Holy One and 
the Just," the Christ of God, He shall ascend into the hill of 
the Lord, and He shall stand in His holy place. Accordingly, 
the last four verses of the Psalm describe the triumphant 

G 



82 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



entrance of Christ, the King of glory, within the portals of His 
Father's home. Thousands of angels escort their returning 
Lord, and from them it seems the challenge comes : " Lift up 
your heads, O ye gates ; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors ; 
and the King of glory shall come in." Angelic guards within 
enquire, "Who is this King of glory?" The celestial escort, 
remembering full well the victories of their King over sin and 
Satan and the world, over death and the grave, reply, "The 
Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle." Again 
the challenge is made, the question put, and the answer 
returned, "Lift up your heads, O ye gates ; even lift them up, ye 
everlasting doors ; and the King of glory shall come in. Who 
is this King of glory ? The Lord of hosts, He is the King of 
glory." And now the King has arrived, and through those 
everlasting doors He passes amid the heavenly minstrelsy, 
amid the jubilant songs of angelic hierarchies, to His Father 
and His Father's throne. 

In the forty-seventh Psalm, you have another unmistakable 
allusion to the triumphant ascension of our Divine Saviour. 
Look at verse 5 : " God is gone up with a shout, the Lord 
with the sound of a.trumpet." What intelligible meaning can 
you attach to these words, except you apply them to the promised 
Messiah ? who came down as God, and was made man, and 
went up to heaven, as " God manifest in the flesh," and who, 
in consequence of His deep humiliation, hath been (as the last 
verse of the Psalm tells us) " greatly exalted." 

You have, however, a clearer prediction of Christ's ascen- 
sion than either of those I have referred you to, in Psalm 
lxviii. 17, 18 : " The chariots of God are twenty thousand, 
even thousands of angels : the Lord is among them, as in 
Sinai, in the holy place. Thou hast ascended on high, Thou 
hast led captivity captive : Thou hast received gifts for men ; 
yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell 
among them." The words are so plain in their reference 
to the ascension of the Messiah, that even had we not St. 
Paul's inspired commentary on them, we could hardly doubt 
their application. Let us turn, however, to that inspired 
comment, as we have it in Ephesians iv. 7 — 11 : " But unto 



Christ's exaltation. 



83 



every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the 
gift of Christ. Wherefore He saith, When He ascended up on 
high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now 
that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into 
the lower parts of the earth ? He that descended is the same 
also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill 
all things.) And He gave some, apostles ; and some, prophets ; 
and some, evangelists ; and some, pastors and teachers." He, 
then, that ascended, must be, as the Apostle reasons, He that 
had previously descended ; and this can be none other than the 
Son of God, who came down from heaven to earth, became man, 
suffered, died, and rose again, and then ascended to heaven. 
Such, then, are the predictions in the Old Testament Scriptures 
of the fact of Christ's ascension. 

2. Now observe, in the next place, that Christ, as He 
predicted His sufferings, and death, and resurrection, so He 
predicted, or at least alluded to, the event which was to follow — 
His ascension. Look at the sixth chapter of St. John. When 
some even of Christ's disciples took offence at His teaching on 
the subject of eating His flesh and drinking His blood, because 
they understood His words literally and carnally, He referred 
them to an event which would ere long render such a literal and 
carnal interpretation of His words utterly impossible — an event, 
therefore, which would prove such an interpretation to be 
entirely false ; that event was His bodily ascension to heaven. 
" What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where He 
was before ?" As much as to say, How will you then eat my 
flesh and drink my blood, in the sense that you are thinking of? 
Thus, let me observe in passing, Christ taught them, and His 
people to the end of time, that to eat His flesh and drink His 
blood is no literal and carnal act, but a spiritual feeding upon 
Him in our own hearts by faith. 

Another allusion to Christ's ascension you have in His last 
discourse with His disciples. Look at John xiv. 2 : "In My 
Father's house are many mansions : if it were not so, I would 
have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." And again, in 
John xvi. 28: " I came forth from the Father, and am come 
into the world : again, I leave the world, and go to the Father." 

g 2 



84 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



And once more, immediately after His resurrection, when 
He appeared to Mary of Magdala, He foretold His approaching 
ascension. Look at John xx. 17: " Jesus saith unto her, Touch 
Me not ; for I am not yet ascended to My Father : but go to 
My brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto My Father, and 
your Father ; and to My God, and your God." 

8. From the predictions of the fact, I pass now to its fulfilment. 
It was witnessed by the Apostles and others. It was, of course, 
necessary that it should be witnessed. It was not necessary that 
the Apostles should see Christ rise from the dead — it was 
sufficient for them to see Him after the resurrection ; but inas- 
much as the Apostles could not see Christ in heaven, inasmuch 
as His session at the Father's right hand was not visible on 
earth, it ivas necessary that the Apostles should be actual 
witnesses of the ascension. Let us read the record in the Word. 
In Luke xxiv. 50, 51, we have this account: "And He led 
them out as far as to Bethany, and He lifted up His hands, and 
blessed them. And it came to pass, while He blessed them, He 
was parted from them, and carried up into heaven." In Acts i. 
6 — 11, we have a further account : " When they therefore were 
come together, they asked of Him, saying, Lord, wilt Thou at 
this time restore again the kingdom of Israel ? And He said 
unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, 
which the Father hath put in His own power. But ye shall 
receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you : and 
ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judsea, 
and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And 
when He had spoken these things, while they beheld, He was 
taken up ; and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And 
while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, 
behold, two men stood by them in white apparel ; which also 
said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven ? 
this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall 
so come in like manner as ye have seen Him go into heaven." 
Forty days, then, after His resurrection, on favoured Mount 
Olivet, in the presence of all the eleven Apostles and others, and 
while in the act of blessing them, Christ was parted from them, 
and carried up into heaven. 



Christ's exaltation. 



85 



Do you ask, Why did our Lord ascend up to heaven ? Ask 
rather, Why should He any longer remain on earth ? He had 
finished His earthly work, the work which the Father had given 
Him to do. His humiliation was over ; His death was accom- 
plished ; His victory was won. It was meet and right, therefore, 
that He should be received back into glory. This, however, was 
not the only reason why Christ should ascend to heaven. Last 
Sunday evening, I observed that the resurrection proved the 
Father's acceptance of Christ's finished work for us. The ascen- 
sion of Christ proved that the Father not only accepted that 
work, but that He had in it an infinite delight. 

In raising His beloved Son from the dead, the Father shewed 
that Christ had, by the sacrifice of Himself, put away sin ; but 
in raising Him up from earth to heaven, the Father testified His 
perfect satisfaction with that great work of atonement. 

How full of consolation, then, to those of us who are resting 
by faith on the finished work of God's dear Son, is this His 
triumphant ascension to heaven ! It assures us that we are 
now " accepted in the beloved." That ground of acceptance 
is sure — but that, remember, is the only ground of acceptance 
with God. " In Christ," God pronounces us "complete," 
" accepted." Out of Christ, God's verdict is " Tekel," "weighed 
in the balances, and found wanting." Eternal results are at 
issue here. Examine yourselves, then, brethren, whether ye be 
in Christ. 

Hitherto I have spoken of the way to Christ's exaltation, His 
ascension to heaven ; let me now pass on to our second subject, 
and speak of the exaltation itself, as implied in His session at 
God's right hand. 

II. Christ " sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father 
Almighty" Here, you observe, the tense of the Creed changes 
from the past to the present. All the previous facts enunciated 
in the Creed, Christ's incarnation, sufferings, death, burial, 
descent into hades, resurrection, and ascension, are past. This 
fact, " Christ sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father 
Almighty," is present ; Christ's session in heaven is going on 
now. 

This session of Christ at the Father's right hand, you have 



86 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



clearly predicted in Ps. ex. 1, where David tells us how the 
Lord, God the Father, addressed His Lord, God the Son: " The 
Lord said unto My Lord, Sit Thou at My right hand, until I 
make Thine enemies Thy footstool." Our Lord, when brought 
before the High Priest, foretold that He would one day sit at 
the right hand of power. Look at Mark xiv. 61, 62: "The 
Lligh Priest asked Him, and said unto Him, Art Thou the 
Christ, the Son of the Blessed ? And Jesus said, I am : and ye 
shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power, and 
coming in the clouds of heaven." 

One of the Evangelists only, St. Mark, follows our Lord with 
the eye of faith to the Father's right hand above. His account 
of Christ's ascension and exaltation is as follows : " So then after 
the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into 
heaven, and sat on the right hand of God." (Mark xvi. 19.) 

The fact, however, that Christ is now sitting at the right 
hand of God, is constantly alluded to in other parts of the New 
Testament. In Col. iii. 1, we read : 4 ' If ye then be risen with 
Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth 
on the right hand of God and in Heb. i. 3, we read that 
Christ, " when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down 
on the right hand of the Majesty on high." And once more, 
in our text St. Peter says of the risen Saviour, that He "is 
gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God ; angels and 
authorities and powers being made subject unto Him." 

Besides all this direct testimony of inspiration, to the fact that 
Christ " sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty," 
have we any other testimony of a different kind ? We have, 
and that of the most important character. The enthronement 
of the Son of God at the Father's right hand was signalized 
by the full out-pouring of the Holy Ghost. Christ's own words 
to His Apostles were these : " It is expedient for you that I go 
away : for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto 
you ; but if I depart, I will send Him unto you." (John xvi. 
7.) The gift, then, of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, 
according to our Saviour's promise, was a testimony from hea- 
ven that our risen and ascended Lord had fully entered on His 
Mediatorial office, and was set down at the right hand of the 



gheist's exaltation. 



87 



throne of the Majesty in the heavens. To the bestowal of this 
gift, St. Peter on the day of Pentecost appeals as a proof, that 
Christ was indeed thus exalted of the Father. Look at Acts ii. 
32 — 36: " This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are 
witnesses. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, 
and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy 
Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. 
For David is not ascended into the heavens ; but he saith him- 
self, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand, 
until I make Thy foes Thy footstool. Therefore let all the 
house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same 
Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." 

Christ " sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father Al- 
mighty." As such, Christ is in the place of honour, power, and 
happiness. 

In the place of honour. See Eph. i. 21. Christ at the 
Father's right hand is e( far above all principality, and power, 
and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not 
only in this world, but also in that which is to come." 

In the place of power. Hence Christ speaks of the Father's 
right hand, as " the right hand of power ; " and hence we are 
told in our text, that iC angels and authorities and powers are 
made subject unto Him." 

In the place of happiness. See Ps. xvi. 11. Immediately 
following the prophecy of Christ's resurrection, there follows 
the prophecy of His exaltation to God's right hand, and what 
is there there ? i( Thou wilt shew me the path of life : in Thy 
presence is fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures 
for evermore." From the dishonour, and weakness, and misery 
of His humiliation, Christ has passed now to the honour, and 
power, and happiness of the Father's right hand. " We see 
Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, by the 
suffering of death crowned with glory and honour." 

And now, brethren, what is the great doctrine involved in 
this glorious fact, Christ's exal ation to the right hand of the 
Father ? To interpret aright this fact, we must bear in 
mind that Christ is our great High Priest. Now in the High 
Priest's office, especially that most solemn part of it which he 



88 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



exercised once a year on the great day of- atonement, there were 
three stages. First, there was the slaying of the sacrifice in the 
court of the tabernacle; then there was the sprinkling of the 
blood of the sacrifice upon the mercy-seat, and before the mercy- 
seat in the holy of holies; and finally, there was the coming 
forth again from the holy of holies to bless the people. The 
ninth chapter of Hebrews shews us, that there are these three 
stages in the work of our great High Priest. First, He offers 
the sacrifice of propitiation on the cross— He puts away sin by 
the sacrifice of Himself; then, having risen from the dead, He 
passes on with the blood of His sacrifice into the holy of holies 
— the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man ; 
and finally, we are taught to look for the fulfilment of the third 
and last stage of His priestly office, when He shall "appear the 
second time without sin unto salvation." 

Christ's ascension to heaven, and His session at the right 
hand of the Father, fulfil, then, the second of these functions of 
His Priesthood. He "is not entered into the holy places made 
with hands, which are the figures of the true ; but into heaven 
itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us," i.e., as the 
express words of the New Testament teach, "to make inter- 
cession" for us ; and to make intercession, as the type shows, by 
pleading for us the merit of His finished and perfect sacrifice 
on the cross. Intercession grounded on such a plea is resistless, 
prevailing intercession. 

Christ our Intercessor with God. This, then, is the great 
doctrine involved in this fact which the Creed enunciates, 
"Christ ascended into heaven, He sitteth on the right hand 
of God, the Father Almighty." 

How full of encouragement, then, to believers, is Christ's 
exaltation to the Father's right hand ; connected, as we see it is, 
with His prevailing intercession in our behalf! 

As our Intercessor with God, He can meet and answer all 
accusations brought against His believing people. Hence 
the triumphant question of St. Paul, in the eighth chapter 
of Romans, "who is He that condemneth ?" Heaven, earth, 
and hell are challenged by the question. The Apostle is 
fearless of the result ; and why ? Because " Christ that died, 



cheist's exaltation. 



89 



yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of 
God " — " maketh intercession for us." 

As our Intercessor with God, He will obtain an answer to 
the prayers of His people. Hence St. Paul, after reminding 
us that " we have a great High Priest that is passed into 
the heavens, Jesus the Son of God," and that we have in Him 
one who can " be touched with the feeling of our infirmities," 
encourages us to draw near to God in prayer. ee Let us there- 
fore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain 
mercy, and find grace to help in time of need." (Heb. iv. 16.) 

As our Intercessor with God, He is able to save His people 
with an everlasting salvation. Thus argues St. Paul, in Heb. vii. 
25 : " Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost 
that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make 
intercession for them." Despair not then of final and complete 
salvation, ye who in your weakness cling to Jesus the mighty 
One. He is, indeed, i( mighty to save." 

As our Intercessor with God, Christ obtains the pardon of 
our sins. Thus writes St. John: "My little children, these 
things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, 
we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the 
righteous : and He is the propitiation for our sins : and not for 
ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world." (1 John ii. 
1, 2.) Christ shed His precious blood to cleanse us from sin, to 
clear us from its guilt, that is. If any, therefore, of His people 
sin, Christ by pleading the merits of His blood, obtains their 
pardon. 

Once more, Christ as our Intercessor with God, is all 
powerful to afford us all needed help and succour. He has 
not only ascended to heaven — He sitteth in heaven at the 
Father's right hand, thus implying, as we have already seen, that 
all power is given unto Him, " angels, authorities, and powers, 
being made subject unto Him." If this be so, then we may 
be sure that Christ is able to give to us all the help and 
succour that we need, in this present evil world. Are we 
weary of the prolonged conflict against sin ? Are we giving 
way, under the repeated onslaughts of temptation ? Are we 
weak, and wavering, and desponding? Then let us look up to 



90 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



Jesus j who sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father 
Almighty. All power in heaven and in earth is given unto Him, 
— let us look up to Him ; let us cast ourselves in our weak- 
ness upon Him, so shall we be strong, even (( strong in the 
Lord, and in the power of His might." 

But, brethren, there is another side to this subject, on which I 
must say one word in conclusion. While Christ's intercession 
at the right hand of power is full of encouragement to His 
people, it is full of warning to those who are not truly His 
people. For them, too, Christ intercedes, and that they have 
been spared so long, and enjoyed so many mercies, is the fruit 
of His intercession. Are there some such here ? Christians in 
name but not in heart ! — planted by holy baptism in the vine- 
yard of Christ's Church, but bringing forth none of those fruits 
of righteousness for which the heavenly Husbandman looks. 
Let such, I entreat, not slight the warning which this Lord's 
day should ring in their ears. This, the Sunday next before 
Advent, is the last Sabbath of the Church's year ; shall we live 
to see the last Sabbath of another sacred year ? 

Believers, ye who are looking to Christ, who sitteth at the 
right hand of God, the Father Almighty, should the final sum- 
mons come to some of you ere the Church completes again the 
cycle of her teaching, you are ready — ready for the call of your 
Lord and Master, ready to depart and be with Christ, for 
Christ is yours, and ye are Christ's. 

But what of the barren fig-tree — the fruitless professor in the 
visible Church, when concerning him there goes forth the com- 
mand — " Cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground?" 



SERMON IX. 



CHRIST'S RETURN TO JUDGMENT. 

" I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall 
judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom." — 
2 Tim. iv. 1. 

It is rather remarkable that on this Sunday, the first Sunday in 
Advent, (without any pre-arrangement on my part,) the subject 
which falls to our consideration in the regular order of our 
course is, the coming of Christ to judge the quick and the dead. 
Of all Sundays in the Church's year, Advent Sunday is certainly 
the most appropriate one for the consideration of this article of 
our Creed, in which we confess that Christ, who now sitteth at 
the right hand of the Father, " shall from thence come to judge 
the quick and the dead." In the Nicene Creed we find this 
article slightly enlarged. In it our confession of faith in the 
second advent of our blessed Lord is thus worded, " He shall 
come again with glory to judge both the quick and the dead ; 
whose kingdom shall have no end." This last clause, " whose 
kingdom shall have no end," is most appropriately added to the 
former, which asserts that Christ shall come " to judge the 
quick and the dead," because Christ's work of judgment is an 
essential part of His kingly office. The coming of Christ to 
judge will be a vindication of His royal authority, and will issue 
in an establishment of His authority over the whole earth. 

In considering the second part of the Apostles' Creed, we 
have hitherto been dealing with past or present facts ; we have 
considered Christ's incarnation, sufferings, death, burial, descent 
into hades, resurrection, and ascension ; and we have considered 
further what Christ is doing now, in His session at the right 



92 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



hand of the Father. But now we have to pass from the past 
and the present into the future. We have to consider not what 
Christ has done, nor what He is doing, but what He will do. 
And let us remember, that what Scripture has revealed concern- 
ing the future work of Christ, is as certain as what Scripture has 
declared concerning the past and present work of Christ. Do 
not let us suppose for a moment, that because Christ's coming 
to judge the quick and the dead is future, that therefore it 
is uncertain. Prophetic truth which God has revealed, is as 
certain as historic truth. As surely as Christ was born in 
Bethlehem, as surely as He died on Calvary, as surely as He 
rose again and ascended to heaven, as surely as He now sitteth 
at the right hand of God— so surely shall He come from thence 
to judge the quick and the dead. 

All Christians are agreed as regards this great fact of the 
future ; differences of opinion there are, and must be, concern- 
ing the details of the work of judgment, but as regards the 
great fact itself, that Christ will "judge the quick and the dead 
at His appearing and His kingdom," there is entire agreement. 
Let those who make the divergence of opinion between different 
students of prophecy an excuse for neglecting the prophetic 
Scriptures ; and let those, too, who may feel disposed secretly 
to join in the scoffing question of the last days, " Where is the 
promise of His coming ?" — let all such, I say, bear in mind this 
agreement among Christians as to the great fact that Christ will 
come again, and come to judge the quick and the dead. Let such 
remember on what that agreement rests, even on the revelation 
God has given us in His Word. And let such seriously ask 
themselves, whether they ought not diligently to search the 
Scriptures that bear on this subject for themselves, so that they 
may learn, as far as God gives them light, from His Holy Word, 
something at least concerning that future in which we are one 
and all so deeply interested. 

I desire this evening to invite your calm and thoughtful 
attention to several passages of Holy Writ which bear on Christ's 
future work of judgment. I shall have occasionally to express 
my own opinion concerning some of the details of this great 
work of judgment ; I desire to do so with all deference to the 



Christ's return to judgment. 



93 



opinions of others who take different views with respect to these 
details. As regards the great fact, as I have already said, we 
are all agreed ; we may not have long to wait to see the fulfil- 
ment, or at least the commencement of the fulfilment, of its 
details. 

Let us, then, while studying the prophetic word, watch and 
pray, so that that day may not come upon us unawares. 

The chief subjects to which I would invite your attention this 
evening, are five. First, the Judge ; second, the persons to be 
judged ; third, the time of judgment ; fourth, the order of judg- 
ment ; and fifth, the nature of judgment. 

I. First, then, the Judge. The appointed Judge of all mankind 
is Christ. Hence we confess that from the Father's right hand, 
where Christ sits now, He shall come to judge the quick and 
the dead. In the Old Testament Scriptures, the Messiah is 
continually spoken of as the Judge, as the person who is to 
execute judgment and justice on the earth. It is true that in 
the Old Testament Scriptures the word "to judge" is generally 
used in the wider sense of ruling, governing, administering 
justice ; but this wider sense in which Christ will come to 
judge, includes of course the more limited sense, in which I 
apprehend it is used in our Creed, and generally in the New 
Testament. The passages in the Old Testament are numerous, 
in which the Messiah is spoken of as the person who will judge 
the world — let us look at two. Psalm xcvi. 12, 13 : " Let the 
field be joyful, and all that is therein : then shall all the trees 
of the wood rejoice before the Lord : for He cometh, for He 
cometh to judge the earth : He shall judge the world with 
righteousness, and the people with His truth." Jer. xxiii. 5, 6 : 
" Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise 
unto David a righteous Branch, and a king shall reign and 
prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. 
In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely : 
and this is His name whereby He shall be called, the Lord 
our Righteousness." These passages, and many others of a 
similar kind, refer rather, 1 am aware, to Christ's righteous 
rule, than to the formal act of judgment ; but it is quite clear 
that that righteous rule cannot be established till, by the pro- 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



ceedings before the judgment-seat of Christ, that righteous rule 
has been vindicated by the punishment of all those who have 
resisted Christ's authority, and the rewarding of those who 
have submitted to it. 

Our Lord's words on the subject of His being the appointed 
Judge, are very explicit. Look at John v. 22, 25, 26 : " For the 
Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto 
the Son. For as the Father hath life in Himself ; so hath He 
given to the Son to have life in Himself ; and hath given Him 
authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of 
Man." 

Equally explicit is apostolic teaching on this subject. Look 
at St. Peter's words to Cornelius, in Acts x. 42 : " And He 
commanded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that 
it is He which was ordained of God to be the Judge of quick 
and dead and at St. Paul's words to the Athenians, Acts xvii. 
31 : " Because He hath appointed a day, in the which He 
will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom 
He hath ordained ; whereof He hath given assurance unto all 
men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead." And then 
again in our text, look at the exhortation of St. Paul to 
Timothy, ee I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord 
Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead." 

From the Old Testament Scriptures, then — from Christ's own 
words — and from the teaching of His Apostles — it is clear, that 
the appointed Judge is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. 

II. I pass to our second head — the persons to be judged. 
Who are they ? Scripture answers, all. The language of our 
text, which the Creed takes up, embraces all. " Christ shall 
judge the quick and the dead." " The quick," all those who 
are living when Christ comes ; "the dead," all those who have 
previously died. This expression, then, necessarily embraces 
all. Other passages establish the same truth. Look at Pom. 
xiv. 10 : " We must all stand before the judgment-seat of 
Christ." 2 Cor. v. 10 : " For we must all appear before the 
judgment-seat of Christ ; that every one may receive the things 
done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be 
good or bad." 



Christ's return to judgment. 



95 



All, then, will be judged — Christians, Jews, Mohammedans, 
Heathen — faithful and unfaithful, believers and unbelievers, 
living and dead ; all will appear before the judgment-seat of 
Christ ; but though all be judged, we have no Scripture 
warrant for saying that all will be judged at the same time. 
Scripture, indeed, points (as we shall see) to distinct sessions of 
judgment. This leads us on to our third head — 

III. When will judgment take place ? 

To speak first generally, as Scripture often does, judgment 
will take place in the day of judgment. I need hardly observe 
that this day cannot, in the very nature of things, be a natural 
day. This great day is often referred to in Scripture. Look at 
Matt. x. 15 : " Yerily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable 
for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment, 
than for that city." 2 Pet. iii. 7 : " But the heavens and the 
earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, 
reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of 
ungodly men." 1 John iv. 17 : " Herein is our love made 
perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment : 
because as He is, so are we in this world." Jude 6 : ee And 
the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their 
own habitation, He hath reserved in everlasting chains under 
darkness unto the judgment of that great day." 

When does that day begin ? The text and other passages 
show, it begins when Christ comes a second time, " Christ 
shall judge the quick and the dead, at His appearing and His 
kingdom." When, therefore, Christ comes again with power and 
great glory to establish His kingdom, then the day of judgment 
will begin. It is easy from Scripture to see when this great 
day begins, but it is not so easy to define its duration — it is not 
so easy to say when it ends. In fact I do not see that we have 
any clear Scriptural data to guide us in this matter ; we have 
only hints of this kind. In the twenty-fifth chapter of St. 
Matthew, we have a session of judgment described. Now how 
long that session will occupy, we have no means of ascer- 
taining. In the twentieth chapter of Revelation, we have, I 
believe, another and an entirely distinct session of judgment, 
separated from the one in the twenty-fifth chapter of Matthew 



96 



THE APOSTLES 5 CREED. 



by an interval probably of a thousand years. But how long 
this session of judgment before the great white throne occupies, 
we have no means of knowing. 

Now if we regard both these sessions of judgment as com- 
prised within the limits of the expression, " the day of judg- 
ment/ 5 the former being as it were the morning session, and 
the latter the evening session, we are at any rate led to the 
conclusion, tha,t " the day of judgment" must be a day of very 
extended duration. A thousand years, remember, is with the 
Lord as one day. The days of creation in the past, and the day 
of judgment in the future, are the Lord's days. We must not, 
therefore, apply to the one or the other our tiny measurements 
of time. 

Though, however, we cannot possibly define the duration of 
the day of judgment, let us remember that the great fact stands 
out clearly proved from Scripture, that that day begins when 
the Lord comes. He will "judge the quick and the dead, at 
His appearing and His kingdom." 

IV. And now I pass to the fourth point — the order of 
judgment. This is a matter surrounded with very great 
difficulty. I do not, however, feel at liberty to pass it entirely 
over. Considerable differences of opinion exist upon this part 
of our subject ; I do not wish, therefore, to speak dogmatically, 
but, with deference to the opinions of others, humbly to express 
my own. Test them by the Word. As far then as I at present 
understand the teaching of Holy Scripture on this subject, the 
order of judgment will be as follows. 

After the first resurrection and the rapture of the saints, 
described in 1 Thess. iv., Christ comes with all His saints. 
Immediately on His coming, I gather from Rev. xix. 11 — 21, 
and Zech. xiv. 1- — 5, takes place the judgment upon the Beast 
and the false Prophet, and the whole confederated armies of 
Antichrist assembled round Jerusalem. 

Then I believe the professing Church will be judged. I see 
this judgment in the parable of the talents in Matt, xxv., and in 
the parable of the pounds in Luke xix., where the Lord cometh 
and reckoneth with His servants. The professing Church of 
Christ having been judged, His faithful people will be after 



Christ's return to judgment. 



97 



that associated with Christ in judgment. And this explains 
that remarkable expression in 1 Cor. vi. 2 : " Do ye not know 
that the saints shall judge the world?" and allusions of a 
similar kind in other Scriptures. See Psalm cxlix. 9. 

Possibly then will follow the judgment of the Jewish nation, 
in which the Apostles are specially mentioned as assessors. 
" Ye shall sit," Christ said to them, " upon twelve thrones, 
judging the twelve tribes of Israel." 

Then I believe will follow the judgment upon all the living 
nations (the Travra ia €0vtj of Matt. xxv. 32) — all the Gentiles, 
all who have not been included in the preceding acts of 
judgment, they shall all be gathered before Christ, who is 
seated on the throne of His glory, and dealt with much to 
their surprise evidently, according to their treatment of those 
whom Christ speaks of as ee these my brethren" And who 
are those ? They might be either the Jews, who are Christ's 
brethren according to the flesh, or they might be those who are 
then with Christ on His throne, His glorified saints, who are in 
a higher sense His brethren. This latter view commends itself 
most to my own mind. 

I am quite aware of the very great difficulties attending this 
interpretation of the judgment scene at the close of Matt. xxv. 
All I can say is, that I believe you will find far greater, if not 
insuperable difficulties attending other interpretations which 
have been suggested.* 

So far, with the exception of the raised and glorified saints, 
we have had only the judgment of the quick — the judgment of 
the living. When, then, have you the judgment of the dead, 
i.e., all the rest of the dead who rise not at the first resurrection ? 
The twentieth chapter of the Revelation of St. John, leads me 
to conclude that this judgment of the dead will not take place 
till after the thousand years, the first period of Christ's reign, is 
terminated. Let me ask you to turn to Rev. xx. 5, 6 : ee But 
the rest of the de^ad lived not again until the thousand years 

* Let me here refer to the Rev. A. R. C. Dallas's full exposition of this 
difficult portion of Scripture. It will he found in a book of his, entitled — 
" The Prophecy on the Mount." Published by Nisbet and Co., Berners 
Street. 

H 



98 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy 
is he that hath part in the first resurrection : on such the second 
death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of 
Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years." Then 
you have the permitted outbreak of Satan at the close of this 
thousand years, and his final overthrow described, and then 
in the twelfth and thirteenth verses you read of the judg- 
ment of the dead. "And I saw the dead, small and great, 
stand before God ; and the books were opened : and another 
book was opened, which is the book of life : and the dead 
were judged out of those things which were written in the 
books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the 
dead which were in it ; and death and hell delivered up the 
dead which were in them : and they were judged every man 
according to their works." 

Such, my brethren, I believe will be the order of Christ's acts 
of judgment. And just observe, that as the acts of what I have 
called the morning session of judgment usher in the millennial 
kingdom of the Son of Man, so the acts of the evening session of 
judgment will usher in His eternal kingdom, a picture of the 
glories of which you have in the twenty -first and twenty-second 
chapters of the Revelation. 

One further subject remains, and that of the most deeply 
practical nature. 

V. Wliat is judgment ? It is not, I believe, (with the exception 
of the judgment on the living nations in Matt, xxv.,) the 
alternative of acquittal or condemnation. That is settled at death ; 
while as regards those who are alive and remain to the coming 
of the Lord, that alternative will be settled by some being taken. 
" caught up " in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, while 
the rest are left. As regards acquittal or condemnation, that 
will turn, the Scriptures show in the plainest possible manner, as 
far as Christendom is concerned, on the acceptance or rejection of 
Christ. Are we in Christ ? then we are acquitted, for there is 
te no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." Are we 
not in Christ? then we are condemned already, "for he that 
believeth not is condemned already,, because he hath not believed 
in the name of the only begotten Son of God." 



Christ's return to judgment. 



99 



If, then, judgment is not the alternative of acquittal or condem- 
nation, what is it ? what is it for ? Look at 2 Cor. v. 10 : " For 
we must all appear before the judgment-seat of Christ; that 
every one may receive the things done in his body, according 
to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." Here is 
distinctly stated the purpose of judgment — that purpose is to 
give to every one according to their tvorks. 

Christ's people, the parables of the talents and pounds show, 
will be judged according to their works. Will the sins, then, of 
Christ's people be remembered in the judgment? Nay, they are 
forgiven — they are put away for ever by the blood of Christ. 
But their good works will be remembered and rewarded. These 
good works, we have already seen, have nothing to do with 
their acquittal, but they have everything to do with their degree 
of glory, with their rank and position in the kingdom. He who 
gained ten pounds is placed over ten cities ; he who gained five 
is placed over five cities. 

On the other hand, those who have rejected Christ, are 
judged also according to their works ; not for the purpose of 
condemnation — their rejection of Christ has settled that matter, 
but for the purpose of assigning to them the degree of suffering 
and punishment which will be the due reward of their deeds. 
If such, brethren, is the great purpose of judgment to come, 
how all-important is the bearing of works on our future state ; — 
we shall all be judged according to our works. Now do 
not misunderstand this statement. We are not acquitted or 
condemned on account of our works : our acquittal or our 
condemnation rests entirely on our accepting or rejecting 
Christ. But the degree of glory to which the saved on the one 
hand shall attain, and the degree of suffering which shall be 
inflicted on the lost on the other hand, depend on the use or 
the abuse of the talents entrusted to our care. Ought not, 
then, that word of our Master to sink deep into our hearts, 
" Occupy till I come ? " 

And now, in conclusion, let me endeavour to fix your eyes on 
this great fact of the future — Christ will come again to judge the 
quick and the dead. How near the coming of the Judge may 
be, we know not ; but this we know, that we must all appear 

h 2 



100 



THE APOSTLES 5 CUBED. 



before His judgment-seat. High and low, rich and poor, young 
and old, ministers and people, parents and children, masters 
and servants — we must all appear before the judgment-seat of 
Christ. 

Do you tremble, some of you, as Felix did of old, at the 
thought of judgment to come? or can you rejoice in the 
prospect? Can you take up the jubilant language of David, 
and say, " Let the floods clap their hands, and let the hills be 
joyful together before the Lord, for He cometh to judge the 
earth ; with righteousness shall He judge the world, and the 
people with equity ? " Do you shrink from in secret terror, or 
do you long for with holy joy, the coming of this righteous 
Judge ? The answer to this question depends on another. Is 
that righteous Judge to you now a rejected Saviour, or is He to 
you an accepted Saviour ? 

If the former, you may well tremble at the thought of judg- 
ment to come ; if not washed from your sins in " the blood of 
the Lamb," you may well fear to look forward to that great 
day, when "the wrath of the Lamb " shall overtake those who 
would not have His precious blood. 

But if the latter, if Christ is an accepted, and therefore a 
beloved Saviour, you need not fear — yea, you should rejoice at 
the prospect : you should long for the glorious day of His 
appearing and His kingdom. When you behold "the founda- 
tions of the earth out of course," you should pray as did the 
Psalmist of Israel, " Arise, O God 5 judge Thou the earth ; for 
Thou shait inherit all nations." 



SERMON X. 



THE HOLY GHOST. 

" And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that 
He may abide with you for ever ; even the Spirit of truth; whom the world 
cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him : but ye 
know Him ; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you."— John xiv. 
16, 11. 

We enter this evening on the consideration of the third and 
last part of the Apostle's Creed— the part which concerns the 
third Person of the blessed Trinity, God the Holy Ghost. In 
the first article of this part of our Creed, to which I now 
invite your attention, we confess our faith in this Divine 
Person — " I believe in the Holy Ghost." All that follows is 
connected with this ; — the Holy Catholic Church — defining the 
body in which the Holy Spirit dwells ,* and the three re- 
maining articles — the Communion of Saints, the Forgiveness 
of Sins, and the Resurrection of the Body unto Life Everlasting 
— having reference to those fundamental dispositions of Love, 
Faith, and Hope, which the Holy Spirit forms and sustains in 
the Holy Catholic Church. 

I am to speak to you, then, this evening, concerning the 
Holy Ghost ; concerning His nature and concerning His 
work. May He be with us, about whose glorious Person 
and gracious Work we are to speak. May He, according to 
our Saviour's promise, teach us all things, and guide us into 
all truth. And to this end may He be dwelling in our hearts, 
as Spirit of Life and Truth. 

I. First, then, let me invite your attention to the nature of 
the Holy Ghost. 



102 



THE APOSTLES' GREED. 



tJnder this head there are two things that demand our con- 
sideration — first, His Personality ; secondly, His Divinity. 

1. The Holy Spirit is a distinct Person in the Godhead. " If 
it be enquired/' says one, " what we mean by the term Person, 
as applied to the Spirit, we briefly reply, such a distinction in 
the Trinity as demonstrates a separate mode of existence, to 
which belong personal attributes ; and yet this distinct intel- 
ligent Agent, coalescing in, and constituting in union with the 
Father and the Son, the One God. Because of His union with 
the Godhead, we ascribe to Him Divinity ; and because of His 
personal properties and acts, we ascribe to Him Personality." 

Mark, first, the proof of the Personality of the Holy Spirit, 
that arises from our Saviour's promise concerning Him in my 
text. The disciples of Jesus were troubled at the thought that 
their beloved Master was going to leave them. How does He 
comfort them in the prospect of His departure ? He calls on 
them to exercise faith in God the Father, and in Himself ; He 
reminds them that He is going to His Father's house for 
them ; He assures them that He will come again ; He tells 
them that His departure to the Father will enable them to do 
greater works than He had done ; He shews His readiness to 
answer their prayers. But this is not all. He promises them 
" another Comforter," who was to abide with them for ever. 
Hitherto He had been their Comforter, now He promises them 
another Comforter, even the Spirit of Truth, who was hence- 
forth to take His place, and to be the abiding Comforter of His 
people. Was the Comforter, whose bodily presence was 
withdrawn from His Church, a distinct Person ? This none will 
question — what, then, is the necessary inference ? Obviously, 
that the Comforter who was to take His place, was a distinct 
Person also. Otherwise, what is the value of this part of 
Christ's consolation ? The whole force of it depends on the fact 
asserted in the plain words of the text, that His bodily absence 
was to be compensated for by the actual presence of another 
Divine Person. 

Several other promises of the Holy Spirit occur in this last 
discourse of Christ with His disciples, all of which imply the 
distinct Personality of the blessed Spirit. Look at some of these 



THE HOLY GHOST. 



103 



promises. You have one at the twenty-sixth verse of this 
chapter : " But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom 
the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all 
things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever 
I have said unto you." You have another in chapter xv. 26 : 
"But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto 
you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which pro- 
ceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of Me." Another 
is given in chapter xvi. 13, 14: "Howbeit when He, the 
Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth : 
for He shall not speak of Himself ; but whatsoever He shall 
hear, that shall He speak : and He will shew you things 
to come. He shall glorify Me : for He shall receive of Mine, 
and shall shew it unto you." How is it possible to under- 
stand these promises of Christ, except of a distinct Person ? 
Who but a distinct Person could be spoken of as sent by the 
Father and the Son, who but an actual Person could be spoken 
of as teaching, testifying, guiding, speaking, shewing things to 
come ? 

From Christ's promises in St. John, turn to the Acts of the 
Apostles, where you have the dispensation of the Spirit begun. 
It is quite evident from the history recorded in that book, that 
from the day of Pentecost, the Holy Ghost acted as the 
Vicegerent of Christ in His Church. You find Him as such 
constantly directing the movements of the apostles and evan- 
gelists ; — He directed Philip to the Ethiopian eunuch, Acts 
viii. 29 : " Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and 
join thyself to this chariot." And when he had instructed 
the Ethiopian eunuch in the way of salvation, and received 
him into Christ's Church by baptism, the Spirit took him 
away to other fields of labour, see ver. 39, 40: ee And when 
•they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord 
caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more : and he 
went on his way rejoicing. But Philip was found at Azotus : 
and passing through he preached in all the cities, till he 
came to Csesarea." — He commanded Peter to go with the 
messengers of Cornelius. Look at Acts x. 19, 20: "While Peter 
thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three 



104 



THE APOSTLES' GREED. 



men seek thee. Arise therefore, and get thee down, and go 
with them, doubting nothing : for I have sent them." — He sent 
forth Barnabas and Saul from their ministrations in the Church 
at Antioch, to labour in the mission-fields of Asia Minor. Look 
at Acts xiii. 2—4 : "As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, 
the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the 
work whereunto I have called them. And when they had 
fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent 
them away. So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, de- 
parted unto Seleucia ; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus." — 
He opened doors in one direction, and closed them in another. 
Look at Acts xvi. 6, 7: "Now when they had gone throughout 
Phrygia and the region of Galatia, and were forbidden of the 
Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia ; after they were come 
to Mysia, they assayed to go into Bithynia : but the Spirit 
suffered them not." The Spirit was beckoning them away from 
Asia ; He was leading them, as the results proved, to the mission- 
fields of Europe, where an abundant harvest was to be gathered 
for Christ. — Again, in Acts xx., the Holy Spirit is described 
as bearing witness, and as designating to an office, both surely 
personal acts. Look at verses 23 and 28 : " The Holy Ghost 
witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions 
abide me." "Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to 
all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you 
overseers." 

I might now go on to the Epistles, and the Revelation of St. 
John, or take you back to the Old Testament Scriptures for 
further and still more abundant proof of the distinct personality 
of the Holy Spirit ; but enough, I think, has been adduced from 
the promises of Christ in St. John, and from the recorded deeds 
of the Holy Ghost in the Acts of the Apostles, to prove His 
distinct personality. 

He who was to supply Christ's presence ; He who was to be 
sent forth by the Father and the Son ; He who was to teach, and 
testify, and guide, to call to remembrance the past, and to re- 
veal the future ; He who when His special dispensation began, 
directed the movements of Apostles and Evangelists, sending 
Philip to the Ethiopian eunuch, Peter to Cornelius, Paul and 



THE HOLY GHOST. 



105 



Barnabas to Cyprus and Asia Minor, preventing subsequently 
Paul and Silas from labouring in one place, and making their 
way plain to another ; He who bare witness now to Christ's 
resurrection, now to the persecution which awaited His ambassa- 
dors ; He who designated them to the holy office of the ministry, 
is surely no mere attribute, or influence, but a distinct person. 
Distinct from them in whom He dwells, inasmuch as He is 
said to bear witness with our Spirit that we are the children 
of God ; distinct further from the Father and the Son, inas- 
much as He is spoken of as another Comforter, and as one 
sent by the Father and the Son; distinct from them, and 
yet one with them in the perfect unity of the Triune 
Jehovah ; and therefore not merely a distinct, but also a Divine 
person. 

2. This leads us next to speak of the Divinity of the Holy 
Ghost, as established from the Scriptures. 

The names of Deity are given to the Holy Ghost. Look 
at that remarkable passage in Acts v. 3, 4 : " But Peter said, 
Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy 

Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? 

thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God." 

The works of Deity are attributed to the Holy Ghost. — 
Creation. — You find Him present at creation ; see Gen. i. 1,2 : 
" In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And 
the earth was without form, and void ,• and darkness was upon 
the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the 
face of the waters." You read of His taking part in Crea- 
tion. — " By His Spirit," Job says of the Lord, ce He hath 
garnished the heavens and more particularly you are told of 
His taking part in God's crowning work, the creation of man. 
" The Spirit of the Lord," says Elihu, (i hath made me, and the 
breath of the Almighty hath given me life." — Again, the revela- 
tion of the unseen and the future, which is clearly a work of 
Deity, is attributed to the Holy Ghost. The inspired Scrip- 
tures, wherein the unseen and the future are revealed, are from 
Him. — " For," we read, " the prophecy came not in old time 
by the will of man : but holy men of God spake as they were 
moved by the Holy Ghost." (2 Peter i. 21.) 



106 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



The attributes of Deity are ascribed to the Holy Ghost. 
Eternity, see Heb. ix. 14 : " Christ, through the eternal 
Spirit, offered Himself without spot to God." Omniscience, 
1 Cor. ii. 10 : " The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep 
things of God." Omnipresence, Ps. cxxxix. 7 : " Whither 
shall I go from Thy Spirit, or whither shall I flee from Thy 
presence?" Sovereignty, 1 Cor. xii. 11: "But all these 
worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every 
man severally as he will." 

Further, for the Holy Spirit a Dkine authority is vindicated, 
see Matt. xii. 81, 32 : "Wherefore I say unto you, All manner 
of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men : but the 
blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto 
men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of 
Man, it shall be forgiven him : but whosoever speaketh against 
the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this 
world, neither in the world to come." For whom, except a 
Divine person, would so lofty a claim be made ? 

And once more, to the Holy Ghost a Divine equality of 
power, majesty, and glory with the Father and the Son are 
assigned. Like them He is author of eternal salvation, see 
1 Peter i. 2 : " Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the 
Earlier, through sanctincation of the Spirit, unto obedience and 
sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ : Grace unto you, and 
peace, be multiplied." — Like them He is the Divine person to 
whose service we are consecrated in holy baptism, see Matt, 
xxviii. 19 : " Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing 
them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the 
Holy Ghost." — And like them He is the source whence all spiri- 
tual blessings flow, see 2 Cor. xiii. 14 : " The grace of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the 
Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen." With this accumu- 
lation of evidence before us to the Divinity of the Holy Spirit, 
who can doubt that He is indeed, as the fifth article of our 
Church expresses it, "of one substance, majesty, and glory, with 
the Father, and the Son, very and eternal God ?" 

This article of our holy faith is, (as I observed in speaking of 
the Divinity of our blessed Lord,) no barren theological dogma : 



THE HOLY GHOST. 



107 



it is fraught with most important practical results, as we shall 
see when we come to speak on various parts of the work of the 
Holy Ghost. 

II. To this other division of our subject, then, let me now 
invite your attention — the ivork of the Holy Spirit. Few 
larger and more important subjects could well be named 
than this. If I am to give you in the short space of time that 
remains anything like a comprehensive idea of the whole, (so far 
as I am able,) it is evident that I must touch very lightly indeed 
upon the details, and endeavour to give you a general outline 
merely of the Holy Spirit's work. 

First, you have the Holy Spirit's work of conviction. This 
our Lord refers to in John xvi. 8 — 11: " And when He is 
come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, 
and of judgment: of sin, because they believe not on Me ; of 
righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no 
more ; of judgment, because the prince of this world is 
judged." This is the Holy Spirit's great work upon un- 
believers. He convinces them of sin, the sin of sins, the like 
to which there is none to be compared in magnitude — unbelief, 
the sin that rejects Christ. He convinces them of righteousness, 
even the righteousness of Him whom the world despised and 
crucified as a malefactor ; a righteousness established by the 
fact that He is gone to the Father. He convinces them of 
judgment ; He shows them by the monitions of conscience 
within, that they are under the law and government of God, 
and that they are accountable to Him ; that there is a judgment 
to come, at which they must give account of the deeds done in 
the body ; the certainty of this judgment being seen from the 
fact, that already the prince of this world was judged. This 
threefold work of conviction, begun in a state of unbelief, the 
Holy Spirit carries on and deepens evermore in the heart of a 
believer. 

Further, you have the Holy Spirit's work of giving and 
sustaining life. He is, as we confess in the Nicene Creed, 
" the Author and Giver of life." The new birth, which is the 
first dawn of spiritual life, is from Him. It is distinctly traced 
up to His agency and power. In John i. 13, the children of 



108 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



God are described as those who are born, not of " blood, nor of 
the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God and in 
the third chapter of St. John, they are described as those who are 
" born of the Spirit." And as the Holy Spirit first gives life to 
those who are by nature " dead in trespasses and sins," so He, 
by means of God's ordaining, sustains and strengthens that 
life. Hence He is called the " Spirit of Life." When we 
draw near to God in private prayer, when we read His Holy 
Word ; when we come up to the sanctuary and join in the 
public worship of God, when we gather round the Table of our 
Lord, it is the Holy Spirit alone, as " the Author and Giver of 
life," that can make these blessed means of grace, channels of 
spiritual life. See you not, then, how needful it is to maintain 
strongly the Divinity of the Holy Ghost. If He be not God, 
He cannot give life, for that is solely the work and gift of God ; 
if He be not God, He cannot sustain life either, for that too is 
the prerogative of Deity. 

Passing from the Holy Spirit's work of conviction and 
quickening, let me come to speak of the principal work of the 
Holy Spirit in the believer, as indicated by the words of 
the text : " I will pray the Father, and He shall give you 
another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever ; 
even the Spirit of truth ; whom the world cannot receive, 
because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him : but ye 
know Him ; for He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." 
(John xiv. 16, 17.) From these words it appears that the main 
object of the Holy Spirit's work is to supply the place of 
Christ during His bodily absence, by a real indioelling in the 
soul. Christ had told His disciples that He was going away, 
going to His Father's home, from whence in due time He 
promised to return. But in the mean while, i.e., during 
His session at God's right hand, He promised them one 
who was to supply His place, even the Spirit of truth. And 
how was He to supply Christ's presence ? Our Lord's words 
show — by a real indwelling in the hearts of His people. Ob- 
serve the closing words of ver. 17 ; of the Holy Spirit, Christ 
says, " He dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." Here is 
something present and something future. The objective pre- 



THE HOLY GHOST, 



109 



sence of the Holy Spirit was then enjoyed. He was then with 
the disciples, because He dwelt in Christ, who was full of the 
Holy Ghost ; but the subjective presence of the Holy Spirit 
was still future. <( He shall be in you." Here is the real 
indwelling of the Holy Ghost promised by Christ, as a 
compensation for His departure out of this world unto the 
Father. 

This indwelling of the Holy Ghost was predicted in the Old 
Testament Scriptures, where you find it placed in close connec- 
tion with Christ's ascension to heaven. Look at Ps. lxviii. 18 : 
te Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive ; 
Thou hast received gifts for men ; yea, for the rebellious also, 
that the Lord God might dwell among them." If we connect 
this prediction with the words of Christ in the text, we shall 
have no difficulty in seeing in it, a clear prediction of the 
indwelling of the Holy Ghost. 

From this indwelling of the Holy Ghost in believers, flows 
all the rest of His work ; because He dwells in believers, he 
testifies to them of Christ, takes of the things of Christ, and 
shows them unto them ; because of this real indwelling, He 
teaches them all things, and guides them into all truth; because 
of it He glorifies Christ, shews us our nothingness, and Christ's 
fulness ; so that with St. Paul we can say : " I live, yet not I, but 
Christ liveth in me ; " and with him, too, we can rejoice that 
" Christ Jesus is of God made unto us wisdom, and righteous- 
ness, and sanctification, and redemption and with him, too, 
we can exclaim, " I can do all things through Christ which 
strengtheneth me." 

Again, the Holy Ghost, because of His indwelling, sancti- 
fies believers. Not only is He holy in Himself as the Father 
is holy, and the Son is holy ; but as " the Spirit of holi- 
ness," He is the author of all true holiness in Christ's people. 
Negatively, by enabling them to overcome sin. See Horn, 
viii. 13: "If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye 
through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye 
shall live," Positively, by enabling them to live to God's 
glory, to adorn their Christian profession by all holy graces 
and dispositions. These come from His indwelling influence. 



no 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



Hence believers are said iS to walk after the Spirit," to be 
" led of the Spirit," and "to mind the things of the Spirit;" 
and hence the holy graces of the Christian life are all called 
" the fruit of the Spirit." See Gal. v. 22, 23 : " The fruit 
of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsufTering, gentleness, 
goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is 
no law." 

Again, because the Holy Ghost dwells in believers, He 
is their Helper in prayer. " The Spirit also helpeth our 
infirmities : for we know not what we should pray for as we 
ought : but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with 
groanings which cannot be uttered." (Rom. viii. 26.) Hence, 
in Eph. vi. 18, believers are exhorted to pray always " with 
all prayer and supplication in the Spirit ; " and in Jude 20, 
they are exhorted in a similar strain : " But ye, beloved, build- 
ing up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy 
Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God." 

And once more, because the Holy Ghost dwells in believers, 
He comforts them. He is the Comforter in consequence of this 
real indwelling in the souls of Christ's people, He is thus in a 
position to comfort believers, where comfort is most needed ; 
He bears witness with their spirits that they are the children of 
God ; He applies to their hearts the exceeding great and 
precious promises of God's Holy Word ; He enables them to 
realize the deep preciousness of Jesus ; He shows them, as the 
Spirit of adoption, that God is their loving Father, and that all 
His dealings with them are in great loving-kindness and in 
tender mercy. In these and other ways the Holy Ghost, by 
His indwelling, is able to comfort the hearts of the people of 
God. Blessed- are they who in a world of trial, and care, 
and anxiety, and disappointment, are comforted with the 
comfort of the Holy Ghost. 

From all I have said concerning the work of the Holy 
Ghost, you will have perceived that His work is as necessary 
to our salvation as the work of Christ. Without the Holy 
Spirit we cannot come to Christ. f( No man can say that Jesus 
is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost," Without the Holy 
Spirit we cannot abide in Christ. " If any man have not the 



THE HOLY GHOST. 



Ill 



Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." How momentous, then, 
the question which this subject should press on every heart — 
have I the Holy Spirit ? True, you cannot be sensible of His 
presence by any bodily sensations, but you may infer whether 
you have the Holy Spirit or not, by looking for His blessed 
fruits in your lives, and by seeing in what light you regard 
Christ, whom the Holy Spirit loves to glorify. 

If you have not the Holy Spirit, remember it is through no 
unwillingness of God to give you this precious gift — the pro- 
mise of His dear Son is, " If ye then, being evil, know how to 
give good gifts unto your children : how much more shall your 
heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him ? " 
(Luke xi. 13.) Ask, and ye shall receive — seek the promised 
gift, and you will obtain. 

But if you have received the Holy Spirit, take heed, I 
beseech you, that your life more and more corresponds with so 
great a gift. Take heed that ye grieve not the Holy Spirit of 
God by any thoughts, and words, and actions inconsistent with 
your high and holy vocation. Let us rather cherish His in- 
fluences. Let us seek to be filled with the Holy Ghost. Then 
will prayer be more delighted in ; then will the Word be 
more prized ; then will holy ordinances be more enjoyed ; 
then, above all, will Christ be more precious. 



SERMON XL 



THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH. 

"And hath put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head 
over all things to the Church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that 
filleth all in all."— Ephes. I. 22, 23. 

There is no article of our Creed about which more miscon- 
ception prevails, than the one we are to consider to-night—- 
the Holy Catholic Church. And misconception on this subject 
of the Holy Catholic Church, has been attended with con- 
sequences the most sad. It has been the fruitful parent of 
error of very opposite kinds. It has led some to join the ranks 
of the Church of Rome on the one hand, while on the other 
hand it has led others to leave our own Scriptural Church, and 
to form themselves into little companies of separatists, from 
which they hoped, (but as results have proved, in vain,) to 
exclude all hypocrites, all false professors. 

Such seceders on both sides do not seem to understand the 
nature of the Holy Catholic Church, and the conditions of its 
present existence. It is all important, therefore, that we should 
endeavour to arrive at clear ideas on the subject of this Article 
of our Creed. And this, my brethren, it is impossible to do 
without carefully observing the distinction which Holy Scrip- 
ture draws between a visible Church, or an aggregate of such 
Churches, and the Mystical Body of Christ, iS the Church 
which is His Body." 

First, then, let me invite your attention to this distinction — 
let me show you that it is a Scriptural, and not a fictitious one, 
as Romanists and others allege. 

The ordinary acceptation of the word Church in the New 
Testament, is that in which it denotes either a single congrega- 



THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



113 



tion of Christians, or an aggregate of such congregations under 
a common government. That this should be the most frequently 
occurring meaning of the word, was to be expected from the 
fact that the Apostolic epistles are addressed for the most part 
to local Churches, and are chiefly taken up with expounding 
the duties of Christians as members of such visible societies. 

Under this head the word Church is sometimes used to 
denote a company of Christians small enough to meet in one 
house ; as in Rom. xvi. 5 : " Greet the Church that is in their 
house," the house of Priscilla and Aquila. This little company 
of Christians is again referred to in 1 Cor. xvi. 19. A similar 
little band of Christians is mentioned in Col. iv. 15 : " Salute 
the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the 
Church which is in his house." 

More commonly the word Church under this head of a local 
society, denotes the whole body of Christians in a particular 
city or place ; as in Acts viii. 2, where we read of " the 
Church which was at Jerusalem ;" again in Acts xiii. 1, where 
we have " the Church that was at Antioch ;" again in 1 Cor. i. 2, 
where we are told of " the Church of God which is at Corinth;" 
and so continually in the Apostolical epistles, most of which, 
as I have said, were addressed to local Churches ; and so, too, 
throughout the second and third chapters of the Revelation 
of St. John, where we read in succession of " the Church of 
Ephesus," " the Church in Smyrna," " the Church in Perga- 
mos," "the Church in Thyatira," " the Church in Sardis," "the 
Church in Philadelphia," and " the Church of the Laodiceans." 

Under this head, too, the word Church in its plural use 
sometimes denotes the aggregate of different congregations of 
Christians in a particular district or province ; as in 1 Cor. 
xvi. 1, where we read of " the Churches of Galatia ; " and again 
in the nineteenth verse of that chapter, where mention is made 
of " the Churches of Asia," — the difTer ent congregations or so- 
cieties of Christians in that proconsular Asia, of which Ephesus 
was the capital. In Gal. i. 22, we read of " the Churches of 
Judea and 2 Cor. viii. 1, of" the Churches of Macedonia," 
of which doubtless the Churches at Philippi and Thessalonica 
were the principal. 

i 



114 



THE APOSTLES' CBEED. 



In all these cases — the Church in a particular house, the 
Church in a particular city or place, and the Churches in 
a particular district or country — in all these cases, I say, the 
word Church is used to signify one or more Christian societies ; 
societies consisting of those who by baptism had embraced the 
Christian faith. It needs very little acquaintance with some of 
these different societies to perceive that they were, as all visible 
Churches must necessarily be, of a mixed character, consisting 
of good and bad, of true and merely nominal Christians. Our 
Lord's epistles to the seven Churches of Asia prove the mixed 
character of these different societies of Christians ; while our 
Lord's parables of the wheat and tares, the net which gathered 
of every kind, and the ten virgins, five of whom were wise and 
five foolish, foretell that of this mixed nature would be every 
visible Church, and therefore the whole aggregate of such visible 
Churches, to the end of the present age. The parable of the tares, 
indeed, forbids any separation of the wheat from the tares till the 
end of this dispensation. The express command of the Son of Man 
is, " Let both grow together until the harvest." Those who have 
separated from a visible Church, " in which the pure Word of 
God is preached, and the Sacraments duly ministered according 
to Christ's ordinance," in the hope of forming among themselves 
a congregation of Christians, from which the hypocrite and the 
nominal professor shall be entirely excluded, seem to have 
forgotten this command of our Master. Though, however, they 
have forgotten the word of the Lord, still that word stands true 
even as regards themselves ; amongst those bodies of separatists, 
the enemy has sown a great multitude of tares. 

I have drawn your attention now to one, and that the ordinary 
acceptation of the word Church in the New Testament ; in this 
acceptation it denotes one or more Christian societies — societies 
which, as we have seen, are necessarily of a mixed character, 
embracing wheat and tares, good and bad, wise and foolish ; 
those who are united to Christ by a living faith and sanctified 
by His Spirit, and those who, though bearing the Christian 
name, are yet destitute of living faith in Christ, and of His 
sanctifying grace. 

I will now draw your attention to the other New Testament 



THE ITOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH, 



115 



acceptation of the word Churchy in which it denotes the 
mystical body of Christ ,* this, though not so common as that 
to which I have already referred, is far too frequent and too 
important to be overlooked. We shall find that the language 
of the inspired writers, and especially of St. Paul, in speaking 
of the Church in this latter acceptation, is such as to establish a 
broad line of demarcation between it and every other. 

In this sense we find the word Church used in that remark- 
able passage in Matt. xvi. 18, where our Lord, commending 
St. Peter for •his noble confession of faith in Himself, as " the 
Christ, the Son of the living God," and shewing the transcen- 
dent importance of the truth Peter had confessed, says : " Thou 
art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church ; and the 
gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Local societies of 
Christians may and have succumbed to the assaults of the 
powers of darkness, but Christ's Church, founded on Himself, 
the Son of the living God, can never be overcome — against it 
the gates of hell shall never prevail. In all ages Christ has had 
a company of loyal and loving people, who have held fast His 
truth, and not denied His name. 

In this latter sense we find the word Church used all 
through this Epistle to the Ephesians. First in my text, 
where the Church is described as Christ's body— God having 
raised Christ from the dead, set Him at His own right hand in 
the heavenly places, and " put all things under His feet, and 
gave Him to be the Head over all things to the Church, which 
is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all." (Chap. i. 
22, 23.) Again, in chap. iii. 10, where the Apostle tells us that 
it is the purpose of God to make known " to the principalities 
and powers in heavenly places, by the Church, the manifold 
wisdom of God." Under the title of " the body of Christ," the 
Church is referred to in the fourth chapter. Again in the 
fifth chapter, the word Church is evidently used in this latter 
sense, of the mystical body of Christ. Look at the twenty- 
third and following verses : " The husband is the head of the 
wife, even as Christ is the Head of the Church : and He is the 
Saviour of the body. Therefore as the Church is subject unto 
Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. 

i 2 



116 



THE APOSTLES 5 CREED. 



Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, 
and gave Himself for it ; that He might sanctify and cleanse it 
with the washing of water by the word, that He might present 
it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, 
or any such thing ; but that it should be holy and without blem- 
ish." In the seane sense you find the word used in Col. i. 18 : 
"And He is tlie Head of the body, the Church : who is the be- 
ginning, the firstborn from the dead ; that in all things He might 
have the pre-eminence." Again in 1 Tim. iii. 15 : " The Church 
of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." And so, 
once more, in Heb. xii. 22, 28 : "Ye are come unto mount Sion, 
and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and 
to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly 
and Church of the first-born, which are written in heaven." 

The language by which the Church is described in all these 
passages of Scripture, proves that the object which was before 
the inspired writers was something very different from that 
denoted by the expressions, " the Church at Jerusalem," " the 
Churches of Galatia," " the Church of the Laodiceans," and so 
on. The appellations " the body of Christ," " the temple of 
the living God," " the bride, the Lamb's wife," (an expression 
implied in Ephes, v., and actually given to the glorified Church 
in Rev. xxi.,) these appellations, I say, are never bestowed 
on a local Church, or a collection of local Churches, as such. 

And what do the passages in which the word Church is used 
to denote Christ's mystical body imply, as regards the members 
of that body ? What, to go no further, does the very figure 
of the body imply, as regards those members ? " The Church 
which is His body." If the Church in this sense is Christ's 
body, who then are its members ? Clearly those only who are 
really united to Christ as their Head. Surely there are no 
limbs of Satan in the body of Christ. No, brethren, those 
who can of a truth say " We are members of His body, of His 
flesh, and of His bones," are true believers only. There is 
no mixture here of good and bad, as in all visible Churches. 
The mystical body of Christ, then, to quote the words of 
Hooker, " consisteth of none but only true Israelites, true sons 
of Abraham, true servants and saints of God." 



THE HOLY CATHOLIC CnURCH. 



117 



The distinction, then, between a visible Church, or an 
aggregate of such Churches, and the mystical body of Christ, 
" the Church which is His body," is one clearly marked in 
Holy Scripture. It is a distinction of the highest importance 
in dealing with the whole subject of the Church ; " for," as 
Hooker observes, " for lack of diligent observing the differ- 
ence, first between the Church of God, mystical and visible ; 
then between visible sound and visible corrupted, sometimes 
more sometimes less, the oversights are neither few nor light 
that have been committed." 

Before passing on, let me say a word on this latter distinc- 
tion to which Hooker refers — the distinction between visible 
Churches, some of which are " sound," others of which are 
(t corrupted," some more, some less. Our own national Church 
in her nineteenth article gives us a definition of a sound visible 
Church; according to that definition it is, "a congregation of 
faithful men, in the which the pure Word of God is preached, 
and the Sacraments are duly ministered according to Christ's 
ordinance, in all those things that of necessity are requisite 
to the same." In our own beloved Church these requirements 
are fulfilled — faultless (even in the estimation of her most 
attached members) she is not, especially in the exercise of 
discipline and government; but though in these matters falling 
short of the Apostolic Churches, in her in any rate <f the pure 
Word of God is preached," and "the Sacraments duly ministered 
according to Christ's ordinance." This is not the case in the 
Church of Rome. She has made void the pure Word of God 
by her traditions, and corrupted it by her novel doctrines, while 
Christ's holy Sacraments she has defaced and mutilated by her 
superstitious ceremonies, and unwarrantable alterations and 
additions. Rightly, then, does the Article from which I have 
quoted thus conclude : " As the Churches of Jerusalem, and 
Alexandria, and Antioch have erred ; so also the Church of 
Rome hath erred, not only in their living and manner of cere- 
monies, but also in matters of faith." When so many visible 
Churches have erred, we have reason to be very thankful that 
God has cast our lot in one which holds fast Christ's truth, 
and protests against error ; a Church whose teaching leads 



118 



THE APOSTLES' GREED. 



us not away from, but to Christ ; a Church, therefore, whose 
teaching will tend through God's blessing to our edifying in 
the mystical body of Christ. 

This brings me back from this digression to the important 
distinction which I have been endeavouring to impress upon 
you from the teaching of the New Testament, between a visible 
Church, or an aggregate of such Churches, and the mystical 
body of Christ, " the Church which is His body." 

Apprehending clearly this Scriptural distinction, you will 
understand the nature of the Holy Catholic Church, and the 
conditions of its present existence. The Holy Catholic Church 
is the body of Christ. It is not any one visible Church, or the 
aggregate of such Churches. How indeed could any visible 
Church, or collection of visible Churches, be propounded to us 
as an object of faith, as the Holy Catholic Church is in our 
Creed ? 

And here let me advert to a mistake which Protestants, both 
in speaking and writing, continually fall into. They speak of the 
Church of Rome as the Catholic Church, and of Romanists as 
Catholics. Yon have often heard and read language of this 
kind. Those who use it, however, do not remember the con- 
cession which it involves, a concession which is all that Rome 
can possibly desire. To call the Church of Rome the Catholic 
Church, is equivalent to saying that she is the only true 
Church, out of which there is no salvation. None of you 
believe that ; why, then, use language which implies it ? 

Neither the Church of Rome, nor the Church of England, 
nor the Church of Scotland, nor the Greek Church, nor any 
other visible society of Christians, nor the collection of such 
societies throughout the world, is the Holy Catholic Church. 
That Church is " the Body of Christ, the fulness of Him that 
filleth all in all." 

Where, then, are the members of the Holy Catholic Church to 
be found ? The answer to this question will lead me to say some- 
thing concerning the conditions of its present existence. First, 
then, many of the members of the Holy Catholic Church are in 
glory ; they have entered into their rest ; they form the part of the 
Catholic Church which is called Triumphant. The rest are still 



THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



119 



in the conflict, and they form the part of the Catholic Church 
which is called Militant. These are but two parts of one great 
body, one united Church. 

" One family, we dwell in Him, 
One Church, above, beneath, 
Though now divided by the stream, 
The narrow stream of death. 

One army of the living God, 

To His command we bow ; 
Part of the host have crossed the flood, 

And part are crossing now." 

And as to these latter members of the Holy Catholic Church, 
who are still militant here on earth, where are they to be found ? 
They are to be found in all the visible Churches of Christen- 
dom. They are to be found necessarily in greatest numbers 
in those where "the pure Word of God is preached, and the 
Sacraments duly ministered according to Christ's ordinances ; " 
for there the teaching is such as to lead men, through God's 
blessing, into living union with Christ. But who shall venture to 
say, that even in the most corrupt of visible Churches there are 
not some in whom the Holy Ghost dwells ; some whom the Holy 
Ghost has led, in spite of surrounding error, to lay hold of 
Christ as their living Head ; some, therefore, who, notwithstand- 
ing the false teaching of the visible Church to which they 
belong, are very members incorporate of Christ's mystical body ? 
All such, wherever they are found, who are united to Christ 
by a living faith, and sanctified by the indwelling of the Holy 
Ghost, are members of the Holy Catholic Church. 

Are you, whose great privilege it is to belong to a Scriptural 
visible Church, members also, by a living faith in Christ, of 
that Church which is His body ? Has the teaching you have 
received within the favoured borders of our own national Church 
led you, through God's blessing, to Christ ? This is the great 
question ; for your salvation, though it is undoubtedly furthered 
by the purity of the external communion to which you belong, 
does not depend on that, but on the finished work of Jesus, and 



120 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



your personal interest in that work, through an appropriating 
faith. 

So far, then, we have seen that the Holy Catholic Church is 
the mystical body of Christ ; that its members, therefore, are all 
Christ's true and faithful people, partly triumphant and partly 
militant. One further matter calls for a few remarks. To this 
body alone belong those marks of a true Church which Rome 
claims as exclusively her own. Two of these marks we have in 
the Apostles' Creed ; the other two you will find in the Nicene 
Creed. These marks are, Unity, Sanctity, Catholicity, and 
Apostolicity . 

None of these marks does the Church of Rome possess. She 
has not the true unity which St. Paul, in Ephes. iv., describes 
as the unity of the body of Christ, even "the unity of the 
Spirit," which is kept in the bond of peace. Try the Church of 
Rome by the points of Christian union which St. Paul enume- 
rates in Ephesians iv., and you will find her wanting. " One 
faith," for example. Has she always maintained "one faith?" 
Is the faith she holds and teaches now, the same as that held and 
taught at Trent three hundred years ago ? or, to make the con- 
trast still more obvious, is it the same which she held and taught 
in her earlier and purer days ? Has she not added to that ancient 
faith, articles contradictory to the Word of God ? contradictory, 
therefore, to "the faith which was once delivered to the saints ?" 
Nor is this all. History shows that often for long series of years, 
external unity even has been wanting, to say nothing of that 
inner unity which St. Paul shows us is the characteristic of 
Christ's body. 

Neither does Rome possess sanctity. Much of her authorized 
moral teaching is anything but holy. Is not God's law the 
standard of holiness ? What, then, are we to say of the 
holiness of a Church which in Ireland, Italy, and elsewhere, 
deliberately omits the second commandment from her catechisms ? 
Besides, are not the greater number of the members of the 
Church of Rome, in common with those of other visible Churches, 
anything but holy in their lives ? 

Again — the Church of Rome is not Catholic. Roman is 
particular, Catholic is universal ; it is a contradiction in terms, 



THE HOLY CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



121 



therefore, to speak of the Church of Rome as Catholic. Apart 
from this, her novel Creed stamps her as the most exclusive 
Church in the world. That Creed, which embodies all her false 
teaching, concludes thus : ee This is the true Catholic faith, 
without which no one can be saved." By that article, she would 
exclude from the possibility of salvation all who deny the Creed 
of Pope Pius IV., a Creed unknown to the early Churches, 
and every article of which is contrary to Holy Scripture. A 
Church which does this, instead of being Catholic, is the most 
sectarian and exclusive of the Churches of Christendom. 

Neither, lastly, is the Church of Rome Apostolic. The Creed 
to which I have referred, shows that she has departed from 
"the faith once delivered to the saints." Once, indeed, she was 
Apostolic in doctrine ; but the decisions of the Council of Trent, 
and the Creed of Pope Pius IV., have indelibly stamped her 
with the brand of apostacy. 

To the Church which is Christ's body, alone belong these 
four marks to which Pome has evidently no claim. The 
mystical body of Christ has true unity, even " the unity of the 
Spirit." The Holy Ghost dwells in each member of the body, 
and unites each to Christ the living Head, and in Him to each 
other. Further, the mystical body of Christ is holy. Its Head 
is holy, its members are holy, they are all justified by Christ's 
blood, and sanctified by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. 
Further, the mystical body of Christ is Catholic^ i.e., universal ; 
because it embraces all true believers, those triumphant in glory, 
and those still militant on earth ; those in our own Church, and 
those in all other communions. 

And once more, the mystical body of Christ is Apostolic. 
All its members continue in the Apostles' doctrine and in the 
Apostles' fellowship, even in that blessed fellowship of which St. 
J ohn writes : "Our fellowship is with the Father, and with His 
Son Jesus Christ." 

The one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, then, is 
Christ's body — God's family of adopted children — the Lord's 
enclosed garden, where grow trees of righteousness, the 
planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified — the temple of 
the living God, built of lively stones on the Pock of Ages, 



122 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. 
Or to refer to one more Scriptural figure — the one Holy- 
Catholic and Apostolic Church is Christ's Bride, His lowly- 
earth-born bride, whom He will, when He comes in the glory 
of His second advent, exalt to sit down with Him on His 
throne, and invite to share with Him the glories of His 
everlasting kingdom. 

Are such the blessed prospects of the Holy Catholic Church? 
Who, then, will not earnestly pray, that through faith in Jesus, 
we may be each one " very members incorporate " in Christ's 
mystical body ? Who will not fervently offer up as his own, the 
prayer of St. Ambrose : " Make us, O Lord, to be numbered 
with Thy saints, in glory everlasting ? " 

" Bride of the Lamb ! awake, awake ; 
Why sleep for sorrow now ? 
The hope of glory, Christ is thine, 
A child of glory thou ! 

Thy spirit through the lonely night, 

From earthly joy apart, 
Hath sighed for one that's far away, 

The Bridegroom of thy heart. 

But see, the night is waning fast, 

The breaking morn is near ; 
And Jesus comes with voice of love, 

Thy drooping heart to cheer. 

This earth, the scene of all His woe, 

A homeless wild to thee, 
Full soon upon His heavenly throne, 

Its rightful King shall see. 

Thou too shalt reign ; — He will not wear 

His crown of joy alone ; 
And earth His royal Bride shall see 

Beside Him on the throne. 

Then weep no more, 'tis all thine own, 

His crown, His joy divine ; 
And sweeter far than all beside, 

He, He Himself is thine." 



SERMON XII. 



THE COMMUNION OF SAINTS AND THE FORGIVENESS OF 

SINS. 

" For we being many are one bread, and one body : for we are all partakers 

of that one bread."— 1 Cor. x. 17. 
" To Him give all the prophets witness, that through His name whosoever 

believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins." — Acts X. 43. 

Last Sunday evening I showed you, that the Holy Catholic 
Church of the Creed, is the mystical body of Christ ; I showed 
you that it is not this or that visible society of Christians, but 
the whole company of Christ's elect : the whole body of His 
loyal and loving people, partly triumphant in glory, partly 
militant here on earth. The members of this Church, which is 
Christ's body, enjoy amongst themselves, " the Communion of 
Saints," and possess, in their relation to God, the deep bles- 
sedness of " the Forgiveness of Sins." 

To these two articles of our Creed I would invite your at- 
tention to-night, reserving for our consideration on Sunday 
evening next, if the Lord will, a subject which will not be 
inappropriate for the last Sunday of the year, the closing 
article of the Apostle's Creed— the Resurrection of the Body 
unto Life Everlasting. 

I. First, then, I invite you to consider the privilege enjoyed 
by the members of Christ's mystical body among themselves, 
"the communion of saints," — "we being many," the Apostle 
says, "are one bread, and one body." 

On what is this communion of saints founded ? — The body 
in which it exists shows at once the foundation on what it 
rests — that foundation is union with Christ. The members of 
His body are all united to Him as their living Head. He is 



124 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



to them all the source of life, and light, and love ; united to 
Him, they are united to each other ; not in any hollow alliance 
which may be the result of compromise, but in that real and liv- 
ing union which springs from their possessing a common centre 
of attraction, a common object of faith, and hope, and love. On 
this union with Jesus, then, rests the communion of saints ; and 
as it rests on union with Jesus, it is easy to see that it flows 
from the indwelling of the Holy Ghost. It is one of the 
blessed fruits the Holy Spirit produces in that body in which 
He dwells — the Holy Catholic Church. The Holy Spirit who 
unites us to Christ, unites us to all who love the Lord Jesus 
Christ in sincerity. 

Further, wherein does the communion of saints consist ? 
What are the constituent elements of this common union ? Let 
us turn to Ephesians iv. 4 — 7, and read there the several points 
of union amongst all Christ's people : " There is one body, and 
one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling ; 
one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, 
who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But unto 
every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the 
gift of Christ." In these matters, I apprehend, consists the 
communion of saints. They form, as we have already seen, "one 
body," even the body of Christ, of which they are the different 
members. They are all animated, as we have also seen, by 
"one Spirit," even the Holy Spirit of God, who dwells in each 
member of Christ's body, and continuously imparts to all the 
life of the living Head. They are all cheered by "one hope," 
the hope of being with Christ for ever, the hope of being made 
like Christ in the resurrection ; the hope of a bright and glo- 
rious future, through the all-sufficient merits of Jesus. They 
all own " one Lord," even the Lord Christ ; to His commands 
they bow, His glory they desire, for His coming as the Lord 
of lords they wait, and watch, and pray. They all hold to 
"one faith," even "the faith once delivered to the saints," the 
faith taught by Holy Apostles, the faith contended for by bles- 
sed martyrs, the faith enshrined in the pages of Holy Writ ; — 
they all acknowledge "one baptism," even baptism in the name 
of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost, one baptism 



COMMUNION OF SAINTS AND FORGIVENESS OF SINS. 



125 



by which they have been received into covenant relationship 
with God as their Father ; and therefore lastly, as God's adopted 
children, they have all "one God and Father." 

One God — who is " above all," as the omnipotent Jehovah, 
the mighty ruler of all things. 

One God who is " through all," pervading all space by His 
presence and providence, guiding the stars in their mighty 
orbits, and giving life to the tiny grains of seed in the soil, 
controlling alike the little insect that lives and dies in an 
hour, and the glorious angels that adore before the everlasting 
throne, protecting the sparrows of the air, and numbering the 
hairs of your head. 

"One God and Father," who is " in you all " — in all His 
adopted children. The mighty God, whom the heaven and 
the heaven of heavens cannot contain, dwells in the hearts of 
His people. In this one God and Father of all, all the mem- 
bers of Christ's body believe ; to Him they are all united by 
adoption, they are all children of His family. Such, then, are 
the multiplied and mighty bonds of union between the mem- 
bers of the Holy Catholic Church — such are the constituent 
elements of the blessed communion of saints. The Catholic 
Church gathered out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, 
and nation, is one body, all the members of which are united to 
Christ their living Head by faith, and in Him to each other. 
Through this body is diffused one quickening, energizing 
Spirit. All its members, too, are cheered by the same blessed 
hope beyond the life that now is. Further, they are united 
in the harmony of peace and love ; by the bond of a like 
allegiance, they all own one Lord ; by the bond of similarity of 
Creed, they all hold one faith ; by the bond of sameness in the 
initiatory Sacrament, they all acknowledge one baptism ; and 
lastly, they are all brought into covenant relationship with one 
God, the Father of all, and their Father by adoption, whom 
they believe to be above all, as the self-existent Jehovah ; 
through all, by His all-pervading presence and all-protecting 
providence ; and in them all, making His abode in their hearts 
by His Holy Spirit. 

There are, as we are all painfully aware, external differences 



126 



THE APOSTLES' CREED, 



which, in the present state of things, keep the saints of God 
from visible union; but still those deep and mighty bonds 
of fellowship to which I have referred, prove that the com- 
munion of saints, even in the present divided state of visible 
Churches, is a blessed reality. How we ought to long for 
the day of its full realization, when all the glorified saints 
from every age, and every land, and every Church, shall be 
gathered around their returning Lord. " In that glorious as- 
sembly," says one, (( Christ, the King of kings, shall be the 
centre of all attractions, the out-flowing fountain of all joy. The 
happy and glorified saints shall fix their steady and adoring 
gaze on His Majesty, and shall reflect His likeness, without the 
least tarnish or drawback. Not a selfish feeling shall spring 
up in that vast multitude, not a discordant note disturb the 
perfect union of that vast assembly. God shall be all, and in 
all to His children in that day, and they shall mutually re- 
joice in each other's happiness. One mind and one holy service 
shall pervade that kingdom. We shall love our God with a 
perfect heart, and we shall love all the glorified Church with 
the highest degree of affection to which sanctified creatures can 
reach." 

Till the day of the Lord shall usher in this full and 
complete manifestation of the communion of saints, let us 
each one strive to realize it more and more, especially round 
the Table of the Lord ; let us remember that in that Holy 
Communion we are not only shewing forth Christ's death till 
He come, but shewing also that we are really one with Christ's 
faithful people throughout the world, that though many, we are, 
as partakers of that one bread, one body. Realizing this, we 
shall be more ready to enter into the spirit of that catholic 
prayer of St. Paul, " Grace be with all them that love our Lord 
Jesus Christ in sincerity." Realizing this, we shall be more 
ready to show love to Christ's brethren, wherever we may find 
them. And this love to Christ's brethren in all communions, 
this readiness to recognize in a true believer everywhere a 
brother beloved, is quite consistent with the deepest attachment 
to our own national Church, and quite consistent, too, with the 
conscientious conviction that in the Church of England we have, 



COMMUNION OF SAINTS AND FORGIVENESS OF SINS. 127 

both in respect of Apostolic doctrine and also in respect of 
Apostolic order, the purest of all the visible communions of 
Christians in our own land. 

So far I have been speaking of the communion of the saints 
on earth ; but is there not a communion of the saints on earth 
with those who have passed into their rest ? Scripture, I 
believe, teaches there is. In a passage I referred you to last 
Sunday evening in the twelfth chapter of Hebrews, we find 
this language addressed to the Church of Christ militant here 
on earth : " Ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of 
the living God, the heavenly J erusalem, and to an innumerable 
company of angels, to the general assembly and Church of the 
firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge 
of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect." (Ver. 22, 
2S.) " Ye are come to the spirits of just men made perfect." 
These words clearly imply that there is some kind of fellowship 
or communion between the saints on earth and those who have 
entered into their rest. There is a community of interest in 
the same kingdom, a community of relationship to the same 
Head ; a community in trustful love, and all the great features 
of holiness ; and a community, above all, in the great object of 
hope. The Church on earth is waiting, waiting for her Lord ; 
the Church in rest is waiting too, waiting for the day of the 
Lord's appearing. With that advent are bound up the highest 
hopes of Christ's Church, whether militant or triumphant. 
The struggling saints on earth look forward to that advent, 
because then they shall see Jesus, then the conflict shall be 
ended in victory, then we shall all be changed, this mortal 
shall be clothed with immortality, this corruptible shall put on 
incorruption. The saints in rest, too, look forward to that 
advent, because then they shall receive the glorious resurrection 
body, then their happiness shall be perfected, then they shall 
come with J esus, to possess with the living saints the kingdom, 
and to reign with Him for ever and ever. 

There is a community in interest, in relationship to Christ, 
in love and in hope between the saints on earth and those in 
rest. Beyond this Scripture does not, I believe, warrant us in 
advancing. And how does Holy Scripture guide us practically 



128 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



to apply this doctrine of the communion of the saints on earth 
with the faithful departed ? By such thrilling words as these, 
" Be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and 
patience inherit the promises." " Wherefore seeing we also are 
compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay 
aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, 
and let us run with patience the race that is set before us." 

While, however, in relation to one another, the members of 
the Holy Catholic Church, whether militant or triumphant, 
enjoy the communion of saints, in relation to God they possess 
the deep blessing of the forgiveness of sins. This is the other 
subject to which I would invite your attention this evening. 

II. The Forgiveness of Sins. Who shall estimate the 
greatness of this blessing ? When we think what must be, 
according to God's Word, and the judgment of an awakened 
conscience, the inevitable consequences of unforgiven sin, we 
wonder not at that exclamation of rapturous joy with which one 
of the Psalms of David opens, " Blessed is the man whose 
transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered," 

I stay not to prove that we all need this great blessing. I 
stay not to prove what every man, woman, and child here 
admits, that we are all sinners, all guilty before God, and all 
therefore needing forgiveness. I pass on to show how this 
great blessing is to be obtained. It is possessed, I have said, by 
the members of Christ's body. Those who are in rest possess it 
in full, all their sins are forgiven, they are all for ever blotted 
out, and they rejoice in the consciousness of their complete and 
perfect pardon. Those on earth possess this blessing, but they 
need its daily renewal on account of daily sins ; they possess 
this blessing, though they do not all, through some weakness in 
their faith, or through some other cause, realize their full and 
present enjoyment of it. Well, how did the saints in glory 
obtain this blessing ? how do saints on earth obtain it now from 
day to day ? can Christ's appointed ministers bestow it upon 
them ? They can, as the ambassadors of Christ, proclaim with 
authority the terms of pardon, as Peter did to Cornelius ; they 
can point out the way of forgiveness ; the way in which alone 
forgiveness is to be attained at God's hand ; but the blessing 



COMMUNION OF SAINTS AND FORGIVENESS OF SINS. 129 

itself they cannot bestow. This is God's prerogative, for " To 
the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though 
we have rebelled against Him." But now the question recurs, 
how can the great blessing of forgiveness be obtained from the 
Lord our God ? Scripture reveals but one way. Old and New 
Testament Scriptures alike proclaim, that "it is the blood that 
maketh an atonement for the soul that (< without shedding of 
blood there is no remission." But what blood can make an 
atonement, what blood can avail to effect the remission of sin ? 
What blood can purchase the great blessing of forgiveness ? 
None, so teaches Holy Scripture, none but " the precious 
blood of Christ," the heaven-provided, heaven- appointed 
Lamb. Look at a few passages in the Word. Rom. iii. 24, 
25 : " Being justified freely by His grace through the redemp- 
tion that is in Christ Jesus : whom God hath set forth to 
be a propitiation through faith in His blood, to declare His 
righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through 
the forbearance of God." Ephes. i. 7 : t{ In Christ we have 
redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, ac- 
cording to the riches of His grace." Heb. ix. 11 — 14: 
" Christ being come an High Priest of good things to come, 
by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, 
that is to say, not of this building ; neither by the blood of 
goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once 
into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. 
For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer 
sprinkling the unclean, sanctifleth to the purifying of the flesh : 
how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the 
eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, purge your 
conscience from dead works to serve the living God ?" 1 Peter 
i. 18, 19 : " Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed 
with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain 
conversation received by tradition from your fathers ; but with 
the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and 
without spot." Once more ; 1 John i. 7 : " If Ave walk in the 
light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with 
another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us 
from all sin." 

K 



130 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



Such, then, is the efficacy of Christ's blood ; through the 
shedding of it there has been obtained fall and free remission of 
sins. It is for us simply to believe that the atonement has been 
made ; it is for us to come in deep penitence and true faith to 
Christ's cross, to look to Jesus bearing our sins in His own 
body on the tree, putting away our sins by the sacrifice of 
Himself, and forgiveness, full, free, everlasting forgiveness 
is ours. Hence the blessing of forgiveness is connected with 
faith in Christ. Look at St. Peter's words to Cornelius in the 
second verse of my text : " To Jesus give all the prophets witness, 
that through His name whosoever belie veth on Him shall 
receive remission of sins." (Acts x. 43.) Look at St. Paul's 
words to the Jews at Antioch in Pisidia : (i Be it known unto 
you therefore, men and brethren, that through this Man is 
preached unto you the forgiveness of sins ; and by Him all that 
believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not 
be justified by the law of Moses." (Acts xiii. 38, 39.) 

Thus the question has been answered ; thus you have 
learnt from God's Holy Word how the unspeakable bless- 
ing of the forgiveness of sins is to be obtained. And now 
a most important practical question arises out of this part 
of our subject in conclusion : Have you obtained the great 
blessing of the forgiveness of sins ? Are your sins forgiven, 
or are they unforgiven ? This is not a question which 
you can lightly set aside. What if unforgiven you die ? 
what if you die in your sins ? or what if unforgiven the Lord 
should find you in the day of His appearing ? what in either 
case would become of you then ? Not having come to Christ, 
and laid your sins on Him the sin-bearer, you will have to bear 
them yourselves ; you will hear pronounced upon you, by Him 
whose blood you set aside, whose sacrifice you treated with 
indifference and neglect, and perhaps scorn, you will hear, I 
say, pronounced upon you by Christ, the righteous sentence, 
which will assign you your portion in the outer darkness, where 
there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. But why will ye 
die ? why will any one of you go on living in the misery of 
unforgiven sin ? why, when God is ready to pardon ? why, 
when Christ has purchased full and free forgiveness ? why, 



COMMUNION OF SAINTS AND FORGIVENESS OF SINS. 131 

when God's ambassadors earnestly entreat you to come to 
Christ's cross, to obtain that pardon ? why, when God's Holy 
Spirit is willing to apply to your hearts even now, that precious 
blood of Christ, which cleanseth from all sin ? 

Some, I would hope many of you, have obtained this great 
blessing of forgiveness. Seek its daily renewal, tarry ever 
near Christ's cross, be ever looking to Jesus who bare your 
sins, so that you may walk from day to day in the blessed 
light of pardon, and enjoy continually peace with God, through 
the blood of the cross. 

One word more. Ye who possess this great blessing of the 
forgiveness of sins, live as God's forgiven children ; learn at 
that cross where your sins have been forgiven, to hate and 
to forsake sin more and more. Let the cross of Christ teach 
you sin's exceeding hatefulness in God's sight, let it teach you 
how God abhors what many are disposed to make light of. — 
Learn there, too, as you see your daily need of pardon, to 
be more humble ; let that daily need teach you to walk humbly 
with your God. — Learn there also to forgive others, even as God 
for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. — And above all, learn at 
Jesu's cross to love Jesus with an ever deeper love. Think 
what you would be without Christ — think what you owe to 
His undying love — think over the great blessing of the 
forgiveness of sins which you owe to His precious blood — and 
thus surely our dull hearts will be stirred up to love Him more 
who so loved us. 



k 2 



SERMON XIII. 



THE RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNTO LIFE 
EVERLASTING. 

" The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear His 
voice, and shall come forth ; they that have done good, unto the resur- 
rection of life ; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of 
damnation." — John v. 28, 29. 

I close this evening my course of sermons on the Apostles' 
Creed. The last Sunday of another of our earthly years, is an 
appropriate season for my doing so : for the subject of this 
closing sermon is one eminently suited for such an occasion as 
this. Brought as we are, through the good hand of our God 
over us, to the last Lord's-day of 1863, we are reminded of 
the rapid flight of the years of this mortal life, and as we think 
of one and another who have been taken away during the past 
year, we are reminded that here we have no continuing city, 
that change, and decay, and death, are written on all things 
earthly. 

It is well, then, at such a time, to have our thoughts carried 
on beyond the grave to the resurrection of the body — beyond 
this present mortal life, to that everlasting life which is to come — 
that everlasting life which the resurrection morning shall usher 
in, in all its fulness and in all its brightness. 

I am to invite your attention this evening, then, to the last 
Article of the Apostles' Creed, in which we confess our faith in 
" the Resurrection of the Body, and the Life Everlasting." The 
•two clauses of this closing article of our Creed, are but two 
parts of one whole—the latter clause defining the resurrection 
of the body to which the Creed refers, even that resurrection 



RESURRECTION OF THE BODY TTNTO LIFE EVERLASTING. 133 



which is unto life everlasting. We confess our faith, then, in 
the Creed, in the glorious resurrection, "the resurrection of 
the just," for their resurrection only is a resurrection unto 
life everlasting. Of this resurrection, therefore, I shall chiefly 
speak to-night ; though I shall have occasion to refer, by way of 
contrast and warning, to the resurrection of the unjust. Both 
are spoken of by our blessed Lord in the solemn words of the 
text : " The hour is coming, in the which all that are in the 
graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth ; they that 
have done good, unto the resurrection, of life ; and they that 
have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." 

The chief subjects to which I would draw your attention this 
evening are five : 

I. The symbolizations of the resurrection in nature. 

II. The intimations and the announcements of the resurrec- 
tion in Holy Scripture. 

III. Different circumstances connected with the resurrection. 
TV. The nature of the resurrection body. 

V. The results of the resurrection. 

I. First, then, as introductory to the Scriptural handling of 
the subject, let us consider the symbolization of the resurrec- 
tion in different departments of nature. 

" All nature," says one, " is a parable and prophecy of the 
resurrection — nothing on earth is fixed and stagnant ; nothing 
in space or time is absolutely unvaried, stationary, and quiescent. 
Winter is followed by spring, which soon gives place to 
summer, soon to make way for autumn and winter anew. The 
germ bursts out in the flower and the fruit, ere long to grow up 
into plants and trees again. The moon passes from youth to age 
in a few short days, to become new as before. The waters 
ascend in vapours to the heavens, from whence they come 
down in rain, to flow back to their native ocean once more. If 
generation is succeeded and supplanted by corruption, corrup- 
tion is itself removed and expelled by generation. Nothing is 
ever lost or perished, or utterly abolished. Yon aged sire of 
the forest may be sinking into decline, and hastening into 
decay, but his youthful progeny never fail to succeed him, and 
to repair his loss ; they force their way from the mouldering 



134 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



trunk, or burst out of the fallen stems, and maintain the name 
and honours of the family ; the sun and rain may hasten his 
decomposition and insure his dissolution, but they stimulate the 
production of his numerous and prolific offspring. Out of the 
waste and wreck of nature are extracted the life and sustenance 
of the human family. Animal remains and vegetable deposits 
fructify in the soil, to supply new stocks and propagate fresh 
races. The death of one plant is the life of another, and 
oftentimes of a greater and better ; so that corruption, we see, 
is even now the progress to incorruption — mortality is the herald 
and harbinger of immortality. By what God is doing now, we 
may learn what He will do hereafter. If death is the fore- 
runner and pledge of life in this world, much more in that 
which is to come." 

The time of the year, however, in which nature presents to us 
the most abundant symbolizations of the resurrection, is without 
doubt the spring. Then we have numerous examples of life 
emerging from apparent death. The trees which have re- 
maine4 bare all through the dreary days and nights of winter 
are re-clothed with leaves, and flowers, and fruits in the 
joyous spring time ; while ten thousand forms of vegetable and 
animal existence start into new life, as it were, under its genial 
influences. Spring time, too, presents us with marvellous 
development of structure, and changes of condition in the 
organized world. Enveloped in his silken shroud, the chrysalis 
has passed the winter months in some obscure spot ; but in 
spring he bursts from his prison house, endowed with new life 
and beauty, and new capacities for enjoyment. The small 
unattractive seeds, which have lain buried in the furrows, 
which have there decayed and died, have sprung up into plants 
of varied form and structure — plants oftentimes clothed in a 
beauty surpassing even that of the glory of Solomon—plants 
that deck that lately barren landscape with a wondrous 
loveliness. Verily, with this annual resurrection taking place in 
spring, and with the constant progress everywhere around us 
through death to life, we are, I think, justified in regarding all 
nature as " a parable and a prophecy of the resurrection." 

II. But pass we now from these symbolizations of the 



EE SURRECTION OF THE BODY UNTO LIFE EVERLASTING. 135 



resurrection in nature, to the intimations and the distinct 
announcements of the resurrection in Holy Scripture. 

And first let me shew that the resurrection was a part of 
the faith and hope of the Old Testament saints. Abel's early 
death was a standing testimony of another and a better life. 
The Lord loved Abel, and yet how brief (as far as we can 
learn) his earthly life, how cruel his end. In the face of such 
a sad loss, would Adam and Eve be left without the supporting 
and cheering hope of the resurrection, when the wrongs of 
God's people in the life that now is, would be more than 
compensated for in the everlasting life to come ? Doubtless, 
Adam understood the meaning of the Cherubic symbols at the 
East of Eden. They told of man redeemed and Paradise 
regained; and thus they (to say nothing of the symbolization of 
nature ) would preach to Adam the doctrine of the resurrection. 

Enoch was the preacher of truth and righteousness in his day, 
an oracle of life and immortality to the old world. He announced 
the coming of the Lord with the ten thousands of His saints to 
execute judgment upon all. This solemn announcement of a 
judgment to come, could not be separated from a resurrection 
to judgment. Enoch's translation, also, was an audible voice 
from God to man, proclaiming everlasting bliss and glory to 
the righteous, in language which could neither be unheard nor 
mistaken by the world before the flood. 

Very early in the patriarchal age following the flood, pro- 
bably before the time of Abraham, lived Job, the patriarch of 
Uz. In his words we have not a mere intimation, but a distinct 
announcement of the resurrection of the body, an announcement 
which we shall not do wrong in regarding as the echo of the 
teaching of the early patriarchal Church. In Job xiv., two 
distinct changes which pass over man are referred to. Eirst in the 
twentieth verse, where Job speaks thus of God's dealings with 
man : "Thou changest his countenance, and sendest him away." 
There the word change has the force of disfigure — this is the 
change of death. The other change is referred to in the seventh 
and fourteenth verses : " For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut 
down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof 
will not cease." " All the days of my appointed time will I wait, 



136 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



till my change come." The word in the fourteenth verse for 
" change/' is the same as that used in the seventh verse for 
" sprout again." The word has the force of revive. Here is the 
second change from death to the resurrection life. And now let 
us read the thirteenth and two following verses, remembering the 
force of the word " change " in the fourteenth. " O that Thou 
wouldest hide me in the grave, that Thou wouldest keep me 
secret, until Thy wrath be past, that Thou wouldest appoint me a 
set time, and remember me S If a man die, shall he live again ? 
all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change 
come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer Thee : Thou wilt have a 
desire to the work of Thine hands." What a clear announcement 
have you here of the resurrection ! In the thirteenth verse Job 
prays that God would remember him in the grave ; in the 
fourteenth verse he asks the question, " If a man die, shall he 
live again ?" In other words, " Is there to be a resurrection of 
the body ? " This question J ob answers in the affirmative. 
" All the days of my appointed time," (the set time in the grave 
spoken of in the preceding verse,) " will I wait, till my change 
come," my reviving, my living again. " Then," i.e., when that 
set time has come, (e Thou shalt call " — all that are in the 
graves shall hear His voice — " and I will answer Thee." The 
Son of Man shall not call in vain then, any more than when 
He stood by the grave of Lazarus ; all that are in the graves 
" shall come forth." 

The other distinct announcement of the resurrection in the 
book of Job you are all familiar with ; you will find it in the 
nineteenth chapter : " For I know that my Redeemer liveth, 
and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the earth: and 
though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh 
shall I see God : whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes 
shall behold, and not another." (ver. 25 — 21.) These words 
are too plain to need any comment. 

Abraham, the father of the faithful, showed his faith in the 
resurrection, by believing God's promises to him respecting the 
land of Canaan, and by offering up his son Isaac, the child of 
promise, he in whom his seed was to be called. He accounted, 
such is the inspired comment, " that God was able to raise him 



RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNTO LIFE EVERLASTING. 



137 



up from the dead, from whence also he received him in a 
figure." 

Moses showed his faith in the resurrection, by his language 
in the ninetieth Psalm. The third verse can hardly be under- 
stood, except as referring to the resurrection. There you have 
the two changes indicated. First, " Thou turnest man to destruc- 
tion there is the execution of the sentence — " Dust thou art, 
and unto dust shalt thou return." Then God says, " Return, ye 
children of men ; " there is the recall — the returning to life, after 
the turning to destruction. The interval between the two may 
be thousands of years, but what is this to the Lord ! " A 
thousand years in Thy sight are but as yesterday when it is 
past, and as a watch in the night." 

David in the Psalms shows continually, that the Jewish 
Church in his days cherished the hope of the resurrection. Let 
one reference suffice. Look at Psalm xvii. Contrasting himself 
with the men of the world, who have their portion in this life, 
he says in verse 15 : " As for me, I will behold Thy face in 
righteousness : I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with Thy 
likeness^' Is not this in exact accordance with Apostolic hope ? 
Look at Phil. iii. 20, 21 : " Our conversation is in heaven ; from 
whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ : 
Who shall change our vile body, that is may be fashioned like 
unto His glorious body, according to the working whereby He 
is able even to subdue all things unto Himself." 

For another distinct announcement of the resurrection, turn 
to Isa. xxvi. 19 : " Thy dead men shall live, together with my 
dead body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that dwell in 
dust : for Thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall 
cast out the dead." And for another turn to Dan. xii. 2 : " Many 
of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some 
to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting con- 
tempt." 

Besides ail these distinct announcements, however, which 
show clearly enough the faith and hope of the Old Testament 
saints respecting the resurrection, there are a great number of 
promises, such as "the meek shall inherit the earth," — "the 
righteous shall have dominion over them (the wicked) in the 



138 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



morning," which imply a belief in the resurrection, when these 
promises shall receive their fulfilment. 

Let us glance now at the teaching of Christ and His 
Apostles regarding the resurrection. Here none will question 
the distinctness of the announcements made. I need not there- 
fore do more than call your attention to them. Look at two or 
three out of the many found in the pages of the New Tes- 
tament. First, in my text, you have the solemn announcement 
of the general resurrection by our Lord Himself. Then look 
at the words of His greatest Apostle, when defending himself 
before Felix, in Acts xxiv. 14, 15 : "This I confess unto thee, 
that after the way which they call heresy, so worship I the 
God of my Fathers, believing all things which are written in 
the law and in the prophets : and have hope toward God, 
which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resur- 
rection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." These words 
not only show that the Apostles, but also that the Jews 
generally believed in the resurrection ; a belief easy enough to 
account for in the light of the Old Testament Scriptures to 
which I have referred. Take two other solemn announcements 
of the resurrection ; one given us by St. Paul in 1 Cor. xv : 
a The trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incor- 
ruptible." This refers, I believe, to those that have fallen asleep 
in Christ, before His second coming. The other given us by 
St. John in Rev. xx. 13, refers to all the rest of the dead : 
" And the sea gave up the dead which were in it ; and death 
and hell delivered up the dead which were in them ; and they 
were judged every man according to their works." 

Old and New Testament, then, alike distinctly announce this 
great fact of the future, the resurrection of the body. 

III. I pass now to our third head, which has reference to 
various circumstances connected with the resurrection of the 
dead. 

1. First, who will raise the dead? Christ in our text dis- 
tinctly tells us that He will Himself raise the dead ; He who 
stood at the grave in Bethany, and there spoke the command- 
ing word, "Lazarus, come forth!" shall at the last day, by 
His mighty voice, call the sleeping millions of the dead to life. 



RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNTO LIFE EVERLASTING. 139 

2. Secondly, who will rise? All — so Christ announces in 
the text, "all that are in the grave shall hear His voice," 
wherever their graves may be, in populous cities or deserted 
wildernesses, deep in alpine snows, or deeper still in the un- 
fathomed waters of mighty oceans, all shall rise, from the tiny 
infant who only lived an hour, to Enoch's first-born son, who 
lived his nine hundred and sixty-nine years ; all shall rise, from 
Abel, the first who passed into the world unseen, to the last who 
shall die in the closing hours of the millennial reign, all shall rise. 

S. Once more, when will the resurrection take place ? 
Christ's people shall rise when He comes again. Look at 
1 Cor. xv. £0 — 23: "Now is Christ risen from the dead, and 
become the first-fruits of them that slept. For since by man 
came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 
But every man in his own order : Christ the first-fruits ; after- 
ward they that are Christ's at His coming." There is nothing 
here about the resurrection of the rest of the dead. They that 
are Christ's shall rise at His coming ; this is the first resurrec- 
tion. "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resur- 
rection." This is the resurrection to which St. Paul prayed he 
might attain ; this is the resurrection which is generally des- 
cribed in the Greek Testament, not as avaaraais ve/cpwv — the 
resurrection of the dead generally, but as avaaraai^ gk veKpCb v — 
the resurrection from amongst the dead. 

But what of all " the rest of the dead ? " when do they rise ? 
Turn to the clear statement in Rev. xx. 5 : " But the rest of the 
dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This 
is the first resurrection." Language has no meaning if this does 
not teach that between the first and second resurrection, there is 
an interval of a thousand years ; a priority in the resurrection of 
the righteous dead of this and preceding dispensations, and the 
resurrection of all the rest of the dead, is implied in other passages 
of Scripture, but here the interval between these two resurrec- 
tions is distinctly stated. In the light of the more extended 
statement in Rev. xx., we must understand the briefer statement 
of our Lord in the text. Our Lord does not indeed say that there 
will be an interval between "the resurrection of life," and "the 



140 



THE APOSTLES' CKEED. 



resurrection of damnation neither, however, does He say that 
there will not be an interval ; nor does the word "hour " prevent 
our believing that there will be an interval between the two 
resurrections — the word simply means season, or time. <c The 
time is coming, when all that are in the graves shall hear 
His voice." The whole time of the millennial dispensation 
may well be called the time of the resurrection, seeing that 
its beginning and its close shall witness a mighty raising from 
the dead. 

IV. I must hasten on now to the fourth division of our 
subject — The nature of the resurrection body. 

1. First, Scripture represents the germ only of the resurrection 
body as proceeding from that laid in the grave ; and further, 
Scripture represents the resurrection body as greatly excelling 
our present body. Look at 1 Cor. xv. 35 — 88 : " But some man 
will say, How are the dead raised up ? and with what body do 
they come ? Thou fool,- that which thou so west is not quickened, 
except it die : and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that 
body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or 
of some other grain : but God giveth it a body as it hath 
pleased Him, and to every seed His own body." The Apostle's 
analogy shows that it is only the germ of the resurrection body 
which proceeds from that laid in the grave. " The early 
writers and apologists for the Christian faith," it has been 
observed, " could not understand how there could be a resur- 
rection without the reviving of the former body of dust and 
ashes ; nor how the earthly body might be refined and sublimed 
into ethereal purity and incorruptibility. Here modern science 
and later discoveries come to our aid, and evince that this body 
of ours consists not of the mere dust and ashes of the grave, 
but combines with them richer ingredients, purer essences, 
subtler extracts, finer spirits, which admit of purification without 
limit, are capable of refinement and sublimation^ without^ end. 
These are, therefore, the real materials for the resurrection. 
These compose the true groundj andjroot of our resuscitated 
nature ; these are the seed and germ of our resurrection body. 
If dull, fetid vapour, even thick black smoke, may in the 
twinkling of an eye be changed into bright and burning flame, 



RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNTO LIFE EVERLASTING. 141 

and illumine all around it, to what excess of lustre and beauty 
may the pure essences, or refined extracts of our mortal nature, 
be transformed by the coming of the Son of Man in His glory ? 
Potent as the living flame bursting from the clouds above, fleet 
as the winged arrows of light, the rarified and risen body of 
incorruption will become the fit shrine of the hallowed spirit. 
Many, however, cling to the fanciful theories and ruder notions 
of earlier times. Following in the wake of venerated antiquity, 
they teach with the learned and pious Beveridge, that f at the 
sound of the last trump, the dust of each human body shall 
immediately gather itself up, and haste away every particle of 
it into its proper place again, so as to make up the self-same 
body as before.' What a paradox ! The Gospel teaches no 
such folly, utters no such absurdity. A body of dust and ashes 
would be alike divisible, corruptible, perishable. The original 
threat and curse would still remain on it : tf Dust thou art, and 
unto dust shalt thou return.' All that can be fairly inferred 
from Holy Writ is, that the present body is somehow the germ 
of the future body ; that at the call of the Son of God, the one 
shall spring from the other, as the stalk or crop from the seed 
sown, as the tree from the root in the ground, as the shoot 
from the bud. But if the. full grown oak of the forest far 
surpasses the acorn, if the branch greatly excels the feeble bud 
in germ, from which it has shot up into height and strength 
and beauty, if the rich and golden harvest is better than the 
poor diminutive seed or plant in the ground, how much more 
shall the new and risen body of glory and beauty excel the old, 
dull, clay structure of time, and surpass the vile dust and ashes 
of the tomb?" 

2. Further, note the characteristics of the resurrection body. 
It will very greatly excel, we have already seen, our present 
body. Some of the particulars wherein it will excel, are given 
us by St. Paul, in 1 Cor. xv. : " It is sown in corruption ; it is 
raised in incorruption ; it is sown in dishonour : it is raised in 
glory : it is sown in weakness ; it is raised in power : it is 
sown a natural body ; it is raised a spiritual body. For this 
corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put 
on immortality." (Ver. 42—44, 53,) Such are some of the 



142 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



characteristics of the resurrection body of the righteous. It is 
a spiritual body ; the word spiritual stands in opposition here 
to natural or carnal, and implies that the resurrection body will 
be entirely devoid of anything that is gross, sensual, or earthly. 
Further, it will be an incorruptible, and therefore an immortal 
body. It will be endowed, too, with power, power in comparison 
with which all our present powers are but weakness. And 
finally, it will be a body clothed with glory, a body " fashioned 
like unto Christ's glorious body." 

As to the characteristics of the resurrection body of the wicked, 
we have no distinct information in Scripture. But this we may 
lawfully infer from the terrible doom awaiting the wicked after 
the resurrection and the judgment ; it will be an incorruptible 
body, a body rendered capable of infinite and everlasting suffer- 
ing. " As to the possibility," says one, " of the wicked dwelling 
with everlasting burnings, which some have so much doubted 
and denied, it is the natural effect, the immediate result and 
necessary consequence of the unutterable foulness and impurity 
of their unrefined bodies. Have we not in nature, even at 
present, substances not to be burned up, nor consumed, nor 
annihilated in the hottest flames ? A handkerchief of asbestos 
has been thrown into a blazing fire, and remained for hours in 
it without any perceptible change, or observable loss of its 
size, bulk, and weight. But to come nearer home, to touch 
at once the subject in hand, have we not corruption incor- 
ruptible daily before our eyes in the chemist's laboratory or the 
smelter's yard ? What is the caput mortuum in the crucible, or 
the dross or refuse in the furnace, but a pregnant living instance 
of it in the present world, as well as an apt earnest and striking 
prelibation of it in that which is to come ? It has been severed 
from and deprived of all that is really useful and valuable in 
its nature and composition ; it is no longer good for anything ; 
it is but dregs, dross, refuse, waste, corruption, and such it for 
ever remains. Fire can make no alteration, can produce no 
effect or impression on it ; no possible heat can change it, or 
destroy it — it is corruption incorruptible. What a fit emblem 
and just prefiguration of the vile corrupt bodies of those who 
have transgressed, whose worm dieth not, and whose fire is not 



RESURRECTION OP THE BODY UNTO LIFE EVERLASTING. 143 

quenched ! " Well may we pray, with such a doom awaiting 
those who live in sin, those who reject Christ as their Saviour, 
" From Thy wrath, and from everlasting damnation, good Lord 
deliver us." 

3. I pass from these characteristics of the resurrection body, 
to notice one other point in connexion with this part of my 
subject of some little importance, and that is the question of 
personal identity. Philosophy shews us that the identity 
between the present and the resurrection body cannot possibly 
be an identity of particles. Holy Scripture incidentally 
confirms this testimony of philosophy, and shews us further 
that this identity cannot consist either in identity of organiza- 
tion. i( Flesh and blood," we are told, " cannot inherit the 
kingdom of God." But though our present organization will 
not exist in the resurrection body, this does not imply that 
there will be no organization ; nay, the perfect and exalted 
character of that state would rather teach us, that the future 
organization will be far more exquisite and wonderful than the 
present, and hence it would be strange indeed, if there should 
not be more marked peculiarities by which each individual 
should be clearly known from all others. 

God, who gives to each his own body, will preserve the 
personal identity of each, both among the saved on the one 
hand, and also among the lost on the other hand. And this 
leads naturally to the question of mutual recognition. Such 
recognition there must be, personal identity being preserved. 

Recognition among the saved. By intuitive knowledge, the 
saints of God in the resurrection shall know those whom on 
earth they knew not. fe Shall we," asks one, " know the 
angels, and not know the saints of God ? Shall we know the 
angel Gabriel, and not the faithful Abraham ? Shall we not 
behold patriarchs, and prophets, and apostles, and martyrs, 
Enoch and Moses, and John Baptist and the blessed Virgin ? 
Shall these be to us (to speak like heathen men) as nameless 
spirits and unknown shades ; or shall they not be revealed in 
all the fulness of that mysterious individual perfection which 
we now by faith believe and celebrate ? Yes, of a truth, they 
that have ' come from the east and the west,' to 6 sit down 



144 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven/ 
shall not fail to know them in that day. Surely we shall say, 
( Lo, there is he that never saw death ; and there the man 
greatly beloved ; and there, she that sat at the feet of Jesus ; and 
the woman that stood behind Him weeping ; and the disciple 
that lay on His bosom at that last sad supper ; and there is he 
that thrice denied his Lord, and then wept bitterly ; and there 
is the glorious Apostle, through whose preaching and martyr- 
dom, we ' sinners of the Gentiles,' were bidden to the marriage 
supper of the Lamb ; and there are they, that in the first age 
trod the purple path to a palm and crown ; and they that age 
after age followed the Lamb, in sanctity and pureness : I have 
heard of them by hearsay, but now I see them each one face to 
face, as though I had lived and conversed with them in the 
days of the flesh. And if we shall know them whom we have 
not seen, how shall we not know them whom we have seen ? 
Shall we recognize the objects of our faith, and not know the 
objects of our love ? Shall we know those, of whose presence 
our imaginations have wrought in vain to shape so much as an 
outline, and not know those with whom we companied through 
the long years of our earthly sojourn; whose form, and bearing, 
and speaking, and looks, and every visible movement, are 
interwoven with our very consciousness ; who are so knit to us, 
as to be all but our very selves ? Such indeed is the hope of 
the Gospel, and the faith of the Catholic Church. Let no 

man defraud you of your joy We shall meet again 

even as we parted — yet not altogether ; there shall be no more 
tokens of the fall, no more lines of sorrow, no furrows of tears, 
no more distress, no more changes, no more fading, no more 
death ; but all shall be fair and radiant, and full of life, as in 

Him that said f Behold, that it is I Myself/ " 

But if there will be recognition among the saved, there will 
be also (fearful prospect for the wicked) recognition among 
the lost. " Awful as the thought must be, we may not doubt 
that even in the outer darkness, they that have sinned together 
shall be conscious of their common anguish ; and they that 
have tempted their fellows in condemnation, shall look in 
horror on the prey they have destroyed : and all the long-drawn 



RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNTO LIFE EVERLASTING. 145 



consequences of their evil life shall be unfolded to their sight, 
in the misery of those who have fallen by their guilt : and in 
the kingdom ©f sorrow and spiritual wickedness, remorse, and 
revenge, and hate, and horror, and despair, and the implacable 
strife of wills that on earth consented to do evil, shall kindle 
and multiply the torment of lost souls ; each one reflecting 
another's agony, and making more intense the piercing energy 
of- pain." Recognition, then, there will be, both among the 
lost and among the saved. 

Shall there, then, be mutual recognition among the saved ? 
and shall we remember those whom we miss from that blessed 
company ? Will not the consciousness that some are wanting 
embitter even the bliss of the resurrection ? Will the fellowship 
of some we love, fill the heart which yearns for those that 
appear not in glory ? " These," it has been truly observed, 
" are hard reasonings, and too entangled that we should un- 
ravel them. What shall we say, then ? God has not drawn up 
the veil, and we cannot pierce its folds. We may give indeed 
some sort of answer, but we cannot allay the unrest which 
these misgivings breathe into our minds. Let us, however, con- 
sider that God recognises all, both them that are saved and 
them that perish. He loves them beyond all love of ours, 
and His bliss is perfect ; in the resurrection we shall be made 
partakers, as of His will, so of His bliss ; and both in us shall 
be perfect too. This must be answer enough for the under 
standing ; and until we know even as we are known, faith muff 
make answer to our hearts." 

V. There remains one other division of our subject, ai 
which I can only briefly glance in conclusion — the results "oj 
the resurrection. On both sides, to the just and the unjust, to 
those in Christ and to those out of Christ, the results will be 
enduring. 

To the righteous, to those who are Christ's, the glorious result 
of the resurrection will be life everlasting. This everlasting life — 
begun now, for " he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting 
life," — enjoyed in fuller measure by those that sleep in Jesus, — 
shall burst forth in the resurrection into its full and complete 
development. Everlasting life " with the Lord " — everlasting 

L 



146 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



life in the full enjoyment of the purchased inheritance — ever- 
lasting life in — 

" Jerusalem the glorious ! " 
The paradise of joy ! 
Where tears are ever banished, 
And smiles have no alloy." 

Everlasting life in— 

" That sweet and blessed country, 
The home of God's elect, 
That sweet and blessed country, 
That eager hearts expect." 

But, on the other hand, to the wicked, to those out of Christ, 
the terrible result of the resurrection will be everlasting death 
in body and in soul, — everlasting death with the devil and his 
angels, — everlasting death in that lake of torment, "where their 
worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." 

How solemn the question which this subject speaks to all ! 
In what resurrection shall I have part ? in that to everlasting 
life, or in that to everlasting death ? Are you in Christ, or are 
you still out of Christ ? On this turns the answer to these solemn 
questions. God has brought us to the last Sabbath Evening of 
another of our earthly years. Ere the last Sabbath of the next 
year comes round, the message will have come to some of us, 
" Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live." 
Are we ready for that summons ? — Are we ready for a still 
mightier summons, when " all that are in the graves shall hear 
the voice of the Son of Man," — and when all the living shall be 
changed, either into incorruptible glory or into incorruptible 
dross ? Have we laid hold each one of us by faith on Jesus 
Christ, as our all-sufficient Saviour ? Can we look up to Him 
and say, each one in the language of personal appropriating 
faith, Jesus (i loved me, and gave Himself fob, me?" If so, 
then is all well ; then we can look forward, " in sure and certain 
hope," to " the Resurrection to eternal life through our Lord 
Jesus Christ." 



RESURRECTION OF THE BODY UNTO LIFE EVERLASTING. 147 



" Almighty God, with whom do live the spirits of them that 
depart hence in the Lord, and with whom the souls of the 
faithful, after they are delivered from the burden of the flesh, 
are in joy and felicity — we give Thee hearty thanks for all Thy 
servants departed this life in Thy faith and fear ; beseeching 
Thee, that it may please Thee, of Thy gracious goodness, shortly 
to accomplish the number of Thine elect, and to hasten Thy 
kingdom ; that we, with all those who are departed in the true 
faith of Thy holy Name, may have our perfect consummation 
and bliss, both in body and soul, in Thy eternal and everlasting 
glory ; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 



" Jerusalem the glorious S 

The paradise of joy ! 
Where tears are ever banished, 

And smiles have no alloy ; 
The Lamb is all thy splendour, 

The Crucified thy praise ; 
His laud and benediction 

Thy ransomed people raise. 

With jasper glow thy bulwarks, 

Thy streets with emeralds blaze 5 
The sardius and the topaz 

Unite in thee their rays ; 
Thine ageless walls are garnished 

With amethyst unpriced ; 
The saints thy golden fabric, 

Thy corner-stone is Christ. 

Thou hast no shore, fair ocean ! 

Thou hast no time, bright day ! 
Dear fountain of refreshment 

To pilgrims far away ! 
Upon the Rock of Ages 

They raise thy holy tower ; 
Thine is the victor's laurel, 

And thine the golden dower, 



148 



THE APOSTLES' CREED. 



Jerusalem the golden ! 

With milk and honey blest ; 
Beneath thy contemplation 

Sink heart and voice opprest ; 
I know not, Oh ! I know not 

What joys await us there ; 
What radiancy of glory, 

What bliss beyond compare ! 

They stand, those halls of Sion, 

All jubilant with song, 
And bright with many an angel, 

And all the martyr throng : 
The Prince is ever in them, 

The daylight is serene ; 
The pastures of the blessed 

Are decked in glorious sheen. 

There is the throne of David ; 

And there, from care released, 
The shout of them that triumph, 

The song of them that feast ; 
And they, who with their Leader 

Have conquered in the fight, 
For ever and for ever 

Are clad in robes of white. 

Oh, sweet and blessed country, 

The home of God's elect ; 
Oh, sweet and blessed country, 

That eager hearts expect ! 
Jesu, in mercy bring us 

To that dear land of rest ; 
Who art, with God the Father, 

And Spirit, ever blest. 



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